After dropping the first three games of the season, the Edmonton Oilers have won two in a row, allowing Oilers fans to stop mashing the panic button and demanding every player be traded.
However, even in the two wins, there is one area of concern for the Oilers: the power play.
In the last few years, the power play was not a concern, but was one of the reasons the Oilers won games. Over the last three seasons, the Oilers are first in the league with a 28.4% success rate, 2.5% higher than the second best Tampa Bay Lightning. Two years ago, the Oilers not only led the league that season, but set an NHL record with a 32.4% power play percentage.
Edmonton struggling on the power play
This year, however, the Oilers power play has been anything but powerful. Entering the game against Nashville on Thursday, the Oilers were 26th in the league at 11.1%. Which is just a fancy way of saying they scored just one goal on nine opportunities with the man advantage in the first four games.
The Oilers continued their woes five-on-four against the Nashville Predators, going 0–4, the second straight game with that tally.
While Oilers fans may lament the lack of penalty calls (the Oilers are tied for 26th in the league for power play opportunities and 29th in opportunities per game), it looks like that may be a blessing in disguise.
On their four power plays, the Oilers only managed a meagrely five shots. Granted, that is one more than they got in their four opportunities against Philadelphia on Tuesday, so I guess that is some progress.
Missing opportunities to stay in zone
On the first power play, the Oilers won the faceoff and controlled the puck. Leon Draisaitl had a cross seam pass blocked, but the puck gave a fortunate bounce to the front of the net and Zach Hyman had a chance to score.
Off the next faceoff, the Oilers controlled the puck around the perimeter, however Draisaitl then again had a cross-seam pass blocked and this time the bounce was not so fortunate and the Predators were able to clear the zone.
The next two entries by Connor McDavid resulted in quick clears, and the second unit then came on, who was also denied entry.
The second unit then decided to switch it up and tried dumping it in. While there was an almost keep, the puck was almost immediately cleared once again.
They dumped and chased again, and this time did manage to recover and it ended with a shot on net, although that shot was technically after the penalty had expired.
Predators managed to deny the Oilers again
The Oilers gained control off the opening faceoff, however a cross ice pass by Draisaitl was once again tipped out of the zone by the Predators. The Oilers were able to gain entry and set up, resulting in a shot by Evan Bouchard that was unfortunately blocked and sent out of play.
The Oilers won the next faceoff and were able to control and get a shot off and some good chances, but McDavid was doubled-teamed along the blue line and lost possession. The Predators’ rush didn’t amount to anything, as Bouchard made a good defensive play to poke the puck away. He then fired off a great stretch pass to Draisaitl, which ended up leading to a very good chance on a one-timer for Hyman. However, Nashville picked up the rebound and iced the puck.
Bouchard then had his next breakout pass intercepted, resulting in a semi two-on-one that resulted in a shot against. The Predators then pounced on the rebound because, as Jack Michaels stated, “right now Nashville just wants it more.” That “wanting it more” did end up resulting in Nashville taking a hooking penalty right away, though, giving the Oilers a very short two man advantage.
What about the dump and chase?
With 16 seconds of five-on-three upcoing, the Oilers took a timeout to rest the top guns.
While the Oilers lost the faceoff, Bouchard was able to hold the zone on the attempted clear. The Oilers passed the puck around but were only able to get one shot attempt off before the first penalty expired.
McDavid collected the rebound and eventually got the puck to Draisaitl, but his shot attempt was partially blocked and eventually cleared by Nashville.
The Oilers came back and controlled the zone for about 35 seconds, but multiple passes through the box were blocked and eventually Draisaitl passed back to the point split between McDavid and Bouchard and headed back to the Oilers zone.
The second unit then came on, and while they made a good initial entry, an attempted dump pass by Jeff Skinner was knocked down and cleared by the Predators.
The Oilers came back, and again the second unit utilized the dump and chase, which worked (with help from a good keep by Ekholm at the point on an attempted clear). They managed to work the puck down low and actually ended up potting the Oilers second goal of the game, albeit again about 10 seconds after the penalty expired.
Fourth time is not the charm
This was by far the worst Oilers power play of the game.
They lost the initial faceoff, resulting in an immediate clear. The Oilers regained the zone, and Draisaitl did manage to get a cross ice pass through finally, but an attempted cut back move by McDavid was stopped by the Predators forward and again cleared the zone. The next entry had Bouchard put his pass to Draisaitl a little too ahead of him, resulting in Nashville possession and a clear.
Interestingly, on the next entry the Oilers changed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Darnell Nurse, and a Nurse shot/pass off the end boards resulted in a Hyman chance.
The second unit then got the remaining 45 seconds of the power play. The Oilers lost the faceoff, however, and again the puck was cleared. They gained the zone on the next entry (thanks in part to a pick/not pick by Nurse), but a hand pass ended the play prematurely.
A dump in off the neutral zone faceoff win led to some zone time, but not necessarily possession, and the Predators eventually cleared once again to kill the final seconds of the penalty.
Is it too early to worry about the power play?
While the first unit had decent possession, they were kept to the perimeter for almost the entire time. That normally isn’t an issue for this unit, as their ability to be patient and lull the penalty killers into a false sense of security before quickly changing the pace and attacking is a key part of their success as a unit.
However, an aggressive Nashville penalty kill didn’t allow for that time and space to present itself. This was in part because of bobbles and mis-passes, meaning that Nashville was able to gain possession more often than they should have. If the Oilers were as crisp as they usually are, that aggressive strategy can backfire real quick.
The second unit was a bit chaotic, which is to be expected for a unit with two brand new forwards on it, but at times that chaos seemed to work. It certainly was a key factor that led to a goal after the second power play.
The big issue was zone entries and maintaining possession, as the Predators cleared the puck five times on the first power play, three times on the second (plus an intercepted offensive zone pass resulting in a chance against), three on the third (although one of those was actually an errant by pass out of the zone by the Oilers) and another five clears on the last power play.
Should the Oilers and their fans be panicking about the power play at this point in time? Maybe not full blown panic, but it certainly looks like the first unit, usually a well oiled machine, seems to be a bit rusty and not quite up to their usual precision. It may behoove them to take a cue from the second unit and go back to more simple, hardworking plays (Keep It Simple Stupid, and all that). Once they get a goal, it likely relaxes them a bit and they can find their fancy mojo once again.
The Oilers should look at giving that second unit more time as well in light of the first unit’s struggles. Being a new group, they will need time to get their chemistry and plays in sync, and it is a unit with enough skill players that you should be able to trust them to get into the groove during actual game play.
At the end of the day, the Oilers winning games without the aid of the power play can actually be looked at as a positive. If/when it gets going again, the difference it would make would be making close wins to comfortable victory margins, rather than the difference between losses and close wins. But still, it’s not exactly winning hockey to have such a cold powerplay, and it should probably be a bit more of a priority from the team at this moment.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
