The Edmonton Oilers pushed their win streak to four games last night in Boston in a dominant 4–0 win. From start to finish the Oilers made it look easy. Here are the takeaways from the game last night.
A near perfect game
The Oilers played a near perfect game last night. They controlled the flow of the game all night long, outshooting the Boston Bruins 29–12 in the first two periods and 39–26 through all three frames. You couldn’t name one player on the Oilers who had a poor game. While Boston hasn’t been the same team this year that they have been for the last *sigh* 15 years, Edmonton made them look like the five-year-olds who sit on the ice during play due to lack of interest, or an excess of interest in sleep.
On the topic of shot differential, the Oilers at 5.5 have the second best average shot differential in the league behind the Carolina Hurricanes at 6.8, who have been the gold standard in the league in shots and Corsi for a few years now. While statistics suggest that the quality of shots is far more important than the quantity alone, a high shot differential is highly correlated with success in the standings.
One of the highlights of the night was the depth scoring, but more specifically the two goals from Adam Henrique, both of which were quick wrist shots on perfect hockey plays, hard work, nice passing, quick shots. Players like Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner who haven’t seen the scoresheet much this season each contributed with a primary assist. Perry made it most of the way to a Gordie Howe hattrick with a fight as well but wasn’t able to plot one.
Connor McDavid, who hasn’t scored since the last time these two teams met on December 19, got the monkey off his back with a slick move on the breakaway after nearly preventing a breakaway shot going the other way. McDavid was also held pointless the last two games, while not a long stretch of time for us mortals, that’s a lot to McDavid, but was all around the net tonight with five shots on goal.
A shutout for Skinner
As an exclamation point to the Oilers win, Stuart Skinner showed up in a big way with a 26-save shutout. While he wasn’t particularly busy in the first two periods, Skinner made more than a few gorgeous saves in the third period to make sure the Boston fans who left early didn’t miss anything.
Skinner was the target of much of the Edmonton critics amid their slow start and honestly you couldn’t say they were wrong. Skinner’s SV% wallowed in the .880s for a long time. Since November 23 though, he has been dominant, posting a .929 SV% with five games above .950. It sits at .902 now, which is about league average and the first time it has been over .900 this season.
Draisaitl’s streak comes to an end
It is with abundant sadness that we mourn the ending of Leon Draisaitl’s 14-game point streak. Draisaitl had tallied an astounding 12 goals and 15 assists during that time, the latest achievement in what is looking like his best season to date.
Draisaitl is making an extremely compelling case for the Hart Trophy as well as vying for the Art Ross and the Rocket Richard. If this weren’t enough he is getting significant attention for the Selke as well. This could end up being one of the most lauded seasons in NHL history. As sad as it is that this streak has come to an end, the way the season is going for Draisaitl I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get to 14 again.
What’s next for the Oilers
Draisaitl and the Oilers have a tete-a-tete with Sidney Crosby tomorrow then with Connor Bedard on Saturday to finish off this road trip, one they have a good chance of sweeping. Then they play host to the Los Angeles Kings in an important game before heading onto the road once more. The Kings have looked great recently and it looks like they could see each other in the first round of the playoffs again this year so that will be an important test.
So far as the standings go, the Oilers leap-frogged the Kings for second in the division, though the kings have two games in hand. Edmonton currently sits four points behind the division leading Vegas Golden Knights and five points behind the league leading Winnipeg Jets.
Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire
