Edmonton Oilers Gameday Reviews: Hawks Skinned by Edmonton’s Killer Shorties

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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Cult of Hockey

Player grades: Penalty killers shine as Edmonton Oilers roll to 5-2 win over Blackhawks

#37 Warren Foegele, 8. One of the more noticeably Oilers on a highly effective third line. In his 11 minutes at even strength Edmonton outshot Chicago 9-3 and dominated the scoring chance metrics as well.
#74 Stuart Skinner, 8. Set the tone in the opening seconds when he robbed Kane from close range, then made a second outstanding stop of the same Chicago star from the slot just 4 minutes later… 30 shots, 28 saves, .933 save percentage.
#86 Philip Broberg, 7. Comported himself well throughout his 14:24 of action. Drew an early penalty that led to a powerplay goal. Then earned his first NHL point by making a quick, smart pass down the wall to Foegele, setting the stage for McLeod’s goal.
#97 Connor McDavid, 8. Another splendid game from the captain, who chipped in a goal and an assist early to provide his team a multi-goal lead that they never did relinquish… 2 shots, 1 hit, 3 giveaways, 2 takeaways, and 8/14=57% in the faceoff circle. The biggest surprise? He drew not 1, not 2, but 3 (THREE!!) penalties.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 5. Quiet game at even strength. Struggled to contain Blackhawk shots from the point…
#16 Tyler Benson, 5. With a team-low 5:14 of ice time didn’t play enough to really move the needle, but he had his moments all the same… Drew three opponents including the goalie into a scrum after banging away at a loose puck in the blue paint and continuing to bang away even after it wasn’t loose. Has recognized the necessity to play with some edge in his current NHL role and is doing just that.
#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 5. A little snakebitten this last while, and was again on Saturday when he was flat out robbed by Kevin Lankinen after a great McDavid feed on a 3-on-1 rush.
#2 Duncan Keith, 7. He led all players on both sides with 25:06 in ice time, within a few ticks of his career average during his 16 years in the Windy City but about 5 minutes more than he’s been getting in his new home.

BLH’s Thoughts: Edmonton’s PK was as dangerous as I’ve ever seen and Kailer Yamamoto played a big part in that. I don’t know if Chicago thought they’d have their way with Sceviour and Yamo because they’re little guys, but whatever it was, it supercharged that PK unit.

Speaking of penalty kill units, Edmonton is playing Nuge/Leon, Foegele/McLeod, and Sceviour/Yamamoto. If the Oilers decided to take things slowly with Derek Ryan, I wouldn’t complain. Those PK pairs are mouth-watering…

It's funny, I must've read about five different articles from significant Oilers pundits saying that taking two penalties one after the other would keep Tyler Benson out of the #Oilers lineup…

Yet, there he was in the last couple of minutes digging pucks out of CHI's corner. https://t.co/ICLMQGVUFU

— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) November 21, 2021

If Pulju wasn’t skating well or getting any chances, I’d say we might have a problem with him, but he’s all over the place contributing on both sides of the puck. It’s just not hitting the back of the net for him, but it will… He’s too good to go on a Yamamoto-like skid…

How about that defense without Nurse? Not too shabby folks… Then again, we probably shouldn’t get too excited considering the Oilers just beat the Chicago Blackhawks…

Broberg had a solid evening. He only got caught once by the diminutive Alex DeBrincat and then nearly got railroaded by fellow Swede, Erik Gustafsson (since when does that guy make open ice hits?).

Did Caleb Jones kick Zack Kassian’s dog? Kass was all over him in this one.

In the first meeting between Duncan Keith and Jones, it’s not even close, I’m giving the decision to Keith. Oilers win the trade. #KenHollandVictoryLap

If this is what "haunting the Oilers" looks like, I'll take more of it. #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Xrjk7J6iKw

— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) November 21, 2021

Now, if Edmonton’s third line can dominate like that 80% of the time, we’ve got ourselves a Stanley Cup contender. Ryan McLeod was looking like Anthony Cirelli out there and Foegele and Kassian were the Bash Brothers…

https://youtu.be/NNREJMzU4OA?t=114

The Daily Goal Horn

“The Athletic confirmed that the Rangers are potentially looking to add a forward, though a veteran defenseman is believed to be on their shopping list, as well.” – Arthur Staple, The Athletic
- Two prime targets I am aware of are F Reilly Smith in Vegas and D Mark Giordano in Seattle.
“After some poking around via texts and calls to various and trusted NHL sources, there was no indication that the Boston Bruins and the Rangers are engaged in any substantial NHL trade talks. However, there was more than one source who said Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk is still a mainstay on the NHL trade rumor circuit amongst NHL scouts and execs.” – Jimmy Murphy, Boston Hockey Now
- Murphy also indicates that the Bruins are looking for a top 4 defenseman in return.

Edmonton Sun

Oilers Notes

McDavid, who had only drawn six minors in the first 16 games, drew three penalties, two by Hawks’ captain Jonathan Toews.
Oilers defenceman Slater Koekkoek, who is out three to four weeks, is wearing a boot on his foot, maybe a sprain.
Oilers centre Derek Ryan missed his second straight game (head) after being hit by Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele this week. He’ll go on the road trip to Dallas, Arizona and Vegas, which starts with back-to-backs Tuesday and Wednesday…
Oilers saluted Jujhar Khaira with a welcome-back video in the first period and he got a nice hand from the crowd…