Struggling to establish the rhythm so far into the season, the Edmonton Oilers took on a team with similar fortune: New York Islanders. Both the 6–6–3 Islanders, who have had their myriad of injuries, and the 7–7–1 Oilers have been looking to find some consistency and improve their standings in their respective divisions, both of which are seeing some competitive play early into the season.
Oilers gave up multiple leads throughout the game before Leon Draisaitl finally put the game away in overtime. So what did we learn about the Oilers? Here are our three takeaways from the game.
Draisaitl’s power play powers
With the goal to open the scoring, Draistaitl recorded the 300th regular season power play point of his career. A more impressive statistic is that of those 300 points, almost half (148) are goals. Just when you think the teams have figured out his positioning on the ice during the man advantage, he still manages to use that lethal shot to slide one past the netminders from the same right-sided spot.
Early into the season, the Oilers’ power play has been having difficulty establishing itself with a power play percentage of 15.8%. Despite that, the Oilers’ power play has been incredibly impressive in recent seasons. Large part of this is the cheat code duo that is Connor McDavid and Draisaitl and I do believe that we have come to take them for granted, especially on the man advantage. Let’s hope that these two do not lose their power-play touch anytime soon.
Is the penalty kill any better?
What I am about to say will not shock anyone who has been following the Oilers this season: Edmonton’s penalty kill has been atrocious. With a percentage of 59.0%, the Oilers are ranked dead-last in the league and this has not helped them to return to their winning ways. In fact, heading into this match-up, the Oilers had given up one power play goal in each of their last six games.
While they may have been playing fifth-worst power play in the league, they have stuck to the basics and shut down the Islanders’ power play for good. From getting in the lanes, to breaking up the passes and preventing offensive zone set up, the Oilers were playing the same way as they did in May and June.
As it stands, the penalty kill can use any momentum they can get and hopefully, this is the beginning of a long streak of penalty kill clean sheets.
Finding their footing
A number of times this season, the Oilers would come out flying early in the game only to slow down and allow their opponents’ to gradually dictate the play. Case and point: the first Battle of Alberta where after a number of goals waved off, the Oilers seemingly became frustrated before the Calgary Flames took over and scored four unanswered goals to take the win. This game, along with other recent performances, now show that this is no longer becoming the case.
Oilers may have their special team and defensive deficiencies, but they have been able to find ways to play a more consistent game that features an honest 60-minute effort. A great example of this was against the New Jersey Devils last Monday. While Jake Allen may have put on a masterclass performance against the Oilers, Edmonton put on an absolute shooting clinic throughout the game they should have won.
This game was no different. Oilers came out flying, outshooting their opponents and testing Ilya Sorokin with great chances. Ilya Sorokin put on a great performance despite the shaky play of his defence and held down the fort as long as he could. Finally for the Oilers, Draistaitl jumped onto the ice on a line change in overtime to put the game away for good with a top shelf classic. This was another tenacious performance for a team that refused to quit despite the Islanders finding ways to erase the leads.
What is next for the Oilers?
Are there parts of Edmonton’s games that can be improved? Absolutely. But are the Oilers slowly finding their footing and starting to play an honest, three period game with quarter season mark approaching? You bet they are. This is great news for the Oilers as they take on a team they beat twice this season: Nashville Predators.
More importantly, all eyes will be on Number 97 as Connor McDavid who is looking to score his 1000th NHL regular season point and continue cementing his legacy as one of the, if not the greatest player of his generation.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
