Zach Hyman photo by Noah Fuchs
The Oilers won a game the easy way in Nashville last night. Solid goaltending, plenty of offense and a lot of good things at five-on-five. The month can still be rescued and Jack Campbell’s showing is perhaps the most encouraging development of all. Now, it’s on to Philly.
THE ATHLETIC!
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: NAS, PHIL (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: NYR, CAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-2-0, 12 points in 8 games
- Actual October results: 1-2-0, 2 points in 3 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 1-2-0, 2 points in 3 games
The Oilers still did some weird things in their own zone, and Campbell’s rebound control is part of his game based on all evidence. Still, moving Warren Foegele up the depth chart proved inspired and the defense bent but did not break. Here’s the story.
THE NUMBERS
Leon Draisaitl against the Nashville Predators is a phenomenon. I’d like to see the two teams in the WC final during the big man’s career peak. Zach Hyman was also a star of the game, and Jack Campbell had a wonderful night. His save percentage this morning is .915. Incredible. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has earned a mention here, he’s averaging two points a game and his five-on-five goal share is 4-1. Music! Connor McDavid is the only man on planet earth who can quietly go 1-1-2 in an NHL game.
Evander Kane picked up an assist last night (seconday) and isn’t shooting much nor are there multiple HD scoring chances per game. You’ll want to see that increase. Dylan Holloway, on the other hand, is a shooting machine and has multiple chances through three games. I could see him getting a push up the depth chart in the days to come. I don’t know if he’ll score, that’s always been the worry, but he’s earning a chance.
Ryan McLeod and Connor Brown are playing well enough, but having little impact on offense. Edmonton needs both men to have success. Brown’s contract bonuses kick in soon, he’ll need to deliver sooner than later. McLeod’s speed is an asset, needs to cash.
Warren Foegele deserves his own paragraph. Gifted the slot Connor Brown was filling in the first two games, he scored, picked up an assist and looked engaged all game. His story is becoming similar to the Marty Reasoner career spike, save for circumstances. Reasoner was placed on waivers, cleared and then went to town. Foegele was heavily rumoured as a trade piece around the deadline in 2022-23, and got his ass in gear and now we are here. Impressive.
Adam Erne had some good moments, two HDSC and the pass from Derek Ryan should have been a goal; I’m not sure he got good wood on it. Mattias Janmark and Derek Ryan played effectively and hopefully people will appreciate what they’re bringing.
Darnell Nurse saw the Tomasino-Glass-Nyquist line most often, spending just three minutes agains the Ryan O’Reilly trio (Edmonton would score at five-on-five). Mostly paired with Ceci, he did spend time with all other Oilers blue. We might be seeing a transition. Cody Ceci played the second most minutes five-on-five (behind Nurse) and the Nurse wowy’s are a tell. With Ceci, Nurse was 3-11 shots, without him Nurse was 3-3. A period of transition appears to be on the way.
Mattias Ekholm had a fine night, 2-0 goals at five-on-five and 53 percent expected goals (Nurse was 35 percent). Evan Bouchard picked up two assists (one at five-on-five) and looked like he was back to playing his old style. He can’t get bogged down with hitting and slashing, because that isn’t his game. I thought he fell into that role a little in the Vancouver games.
Brett Kulak was 1-0 goals five-on-five despite getting fed (15-5 shots) while he was on the ice in the discipline. Philip Broberg was 2-0 goals despite being 7-13 shots and giving up high dangers like candy on Halloween. He looked good in two minutes with Bouchard.
Jack Campbell was stellar in goal. His five-on-five save percentage is now .935. He looked identical to the player we saw at the end of preseason. I don’t know how often he’ll bring that game to the ice this season, but it’s a winning hand all day. All day.
Sports 1440 at noon today, we’ll roll out Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey to break down a win! Those are always great days. Jeff Krushell from Krush Sports Performance will chat about a new program parents of athletes will want to hear and we’ll dive deep into the mlb playoffs. We’re at Sports 1440, noon to 2 today. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.