The Leafs Are In Town. The Oilers need a Win. Jan 28
Lets start this off by saying, the Oilers played a really good 35-40 minutes vs the Jets on Tuesday. They were up 3-1 at one point and looked like they had it in hand. Then for whatever reason the team looked complacent and played bad. They looked like they played to not lose rather than to play to win the game. A lot of that happened before the game started...
Tippett's Mind
I am not sure how it works to be honest with you. Going into the game the Oilers just played a hard fought game vs the Jets, beating them 4-3 in the literal last second of the game. Then the game day lineup comes out and Tip ices two of the worst players in the National Hockey League. Jujhar Khaira, time and time again, has proven to everybody he is not an effective 5v5 player. He was put out there for the PK and would you look at that, the PK was actually better! went 4/5 and did their job for the most part. But having him out on 5 on 5 situations makes him a liability. More so than a Gaetan Haas or a Devin Shore, who in my mind has been a wonderful surprise. Khaira went 2-9 in the faceoff dot and his corsi for was a miserable 18.8%. Khaira has been in the Oilers lineup sparingly for the past 6 years and at some point you have to look at his body of work and think, "Is he really good enough to be an NHLer?" In my mind he really isn't. The other player he was wrong about and still is, plays defense.
Defensive Woes
It was another astounding game for the defense (he says while seething). Adam Larsson scored, which is great, he was also one of the worst players out on the ice when it comes to 5 on 5 play. 40% corsi and took a bad penalty in the 1st period that lead to a goal. Not a powerplay goal but it was scored as soon as he stepped back on the ice. He just has not been the shut down defensemen he was once traded here to be. In the last pre-game article I wrote, I praised the pair of Nurse and Bear! They were among the tops n the league when it came to +-. Not that it means much but we have to look at something, right? Now I will preface this by saying Nurse had 3 assists! That is good, however he was a -3...so was Bear. I JINXED THEM!
I can go on and on about the D core but you can see for yourself that something is just not working. Tyson Barrie was brought in to be the PP specialist and he didn't play a second on the man advantage. The reason being is he can't be trusted right now as the top PP guy! He is being paid 4 million dollars to hopefully bring some offense and he has the same amount of points as Adam Larsson. Something has to click into his head. Maybe it will! Last year the 29 year old had a miserable start to the year with Toronto. In the first two months of the season, Barrie was a -10 and had just 13 points. The next month he put up 9 points and was a +7, he went on to put up 39 points before the stoppage! Let us hope he can put it back together.
Oilers Lines (3-5-0)
RNH - McDavid - Puljujarvi
Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Neal - Turris - Kassian
Nygard - Shore - Archibald
Nurse - Bear
Jones - Larsson
Koekkoek - Barrie
Koskinen
The bottom six looks a lot better for this game than it did for last game. That being said, Larsson is still up on the 2nd pair which is always a concern. However Slater Koekkoek is back in the lineup and he has also been a nice surprise. His fancy stats don't look great but he has been paired with Larsson for most of the year so lets see what he will be able to so with Barrie tonight.
Leafs Lines (6-2-0)
Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Nylander - Tavares - Mikheyev
Vesey - Kerfoot - Simmonds
Engvall - Boyd - Anderson
Reilly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Lehtonen - Bogosian
Anderson
No word from the team yet on what the lineup will be. This is what it looked like vs Calgary on Tuesday. Marner, Matthews and Reilly each put up 2 points in the win and have been very good since they played the Oilers. Marner has 6 points in the last 3 games, Matthews has 3 points since missing the last game vs Edmonton. Morgan Reilly put up 5 points in the 2 game set vs Calgary. The thing the Leafs do well, is score goals! They are 4th in the league when it comes to goals for. However they are 20th in the league for goals against. The Oilers are much of the same in that area. 8th in goals for and 29th in goals against. Will we see a crazy goal battle today? We will have to see
3 Oil Drops for Victory:
Stop the Leaf Power play. Look Penalties are going to happen. You just have to find a way to stop it from costing you a game. The Oilers NEED to stop this power play. They are 2nd in the league at 41% (Really they are first in the league because the leader, Dallas, has only played 3 games). The leafs are also very hot on the power play as of late, 4-8 in the last 3 games including a perfect 2 for 2 vs the Oilers in their last meet up. If you want to win, your special teams have to be just that. Special.
Secondary Scoring. I think we have wanted secondary scoring for the past 10 years. The Oilers top 5 point getters are McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Yamamoto and Nurse. That is how it should be, you are correct. They have 12, 11, 7, 6 & 6 points respectfully. After that the next highest scorer has 2. Guys like Kahun, Turris, Kassian or Archibald have not put up the points yet this year. Now, sure it really isn't their job to be scoring all of the goals, but at some point you need to take the heat off of the top guys and we have yet to see that.
Both Goalies will be Leaned on. It was announced after the 1st game vs Calgary that Jack Campbell will be out of the Leafs lineup for an extended period of time. Much of the same with Oilers back-up Mike Smith. So early on both Mikko Koskinen and Freddy Anderson have been leaned on heavily and will be counted on even more. Mikko is running on a .900 sv% and a 3.42 GAA. OOF! Anderson's numbers aren't any better, posting a .896 & a 2.84 GAA. Tonight will come down to which goalie will suck less! GOODY!!
How can the Oilers turn things around?
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