Tag Archives: Leon Draisaitl

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL

BLH Post Gamer G19 Oilers VS. Hawks: Robbed or Jobbed?

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Oilers be Oilering
Oilers be Oilering. Photo Courtesy of Andy Devlin

Did you get the distinct feeling that as soon as the Blackhawks took a two goal lead that that was it for the Oilers?

I did but you’d think I’d have learned by now. I mean how many games have they come back from to tie it up only to lose it late in the third? And that’s another thing, how many of you were down to the knuckles

The new McDavid inspired design!

from chewing your nails after Draisaitl scored to tie it up?

I mean I love it. I can finally sit down and watch a game and not be down in the dumps once the opposition

scores a goal or two because I know there’s a push back coming.

I know that when Taylor Hall is on the ice that he’s going to make something happen 75% of the time and when he’s out there with Leon Draisaitl that percentage goes up to 90%. When Anders Nilsson is in the net I’m not paranoid of letting in a bad goal. When Darnell Nurse is on the ice I’m not weary of the Oilers getting pushed around. And when Nail Yakupov is out there I’m not bored.

The point is that the team may still be in the basement but the world isn’t ending because of it. I don’t believe any fans think they’ll end the year in the same spot they are in now. In fact I believe that we’re going to see some moves and then we’re going to see the Oilers start their assault on the standings.

THE GAME

Period one was damn entertaining! Back and forth and no prisoners were taken! The Oilers outshot the Blackhawks like crazy (11-3) and were the aggressors the entire first period. No goals were scored but there was this sweet hit by Griffin Reinhart on Andrew Shaw.

The second period was nothing to fawn over from an Oilers fan’s perspective. Passes were being missed, coverage was being blown, and to be honest you could feel the tide turning a bit. The veteran laden team from Chicago laid into the Oilers and came away with two goals from Duncan Keith and Artemi Panarin.

Like I said earlier, I had a tough time not feeling that the game was in the bag for Chicago at that point. I mean the M.O. was to keep Kane and Panarin off the board right? With 5 minutes to go in the 2nd frame they both were on the scoresheet; the diminutive Russian twice.

BUT as the boys have done time and time again this year, they found a way to make magic happen! Brandon Davidson found Ebs coming off the bench and breaking down the middle uncovered, as he broke in on Corey Crawford unscathed, Eberle froze him with a little shimmy and then ROOF DADDY! Bingo bango the Oilers were back in it with intentions to win it.

The third period was not amazing to start but a shot high and wide by Leon Draisaitl led to a missed chance for the Blackhawks to move it out of the zone, which in turn seen the puck move to Teddy Purcell’s stick and then a quick little dink over to Darnell Nurse who literally went through every Chicago player that was on the ice like hot butter; then as he approached Crawford’s net he sent the biscuit towards the slot and who was awaiting said pass? Benny Pouliot! He tapped it home to tie the game up and Rexall blew up! Check out in the highlight below where Nurse goes through everyone. I’m surprised nobody picked up on this.

But it was for naught. Nearly 8 minutes later Andrew Shaw tucked one home and they were back up… I felt terrible at this point. The Oilers were ‘that’ close again only to find themselves down with only minutes to go in the third period. Hashtag Dispair.

DID YOU HEAR THAT? IT’S LEON DRAISAITL’S MUSIC!

Ze German saved the day for the Oilers and Rexall exploded again! Teddy Purcell (good lord this guy is on fire right now) finds the puck, holds off a Chicago defender with one arm and dishes it to Taylor Hall who with the slightest of touches puts it into the shooting path for Neon Leon Draisaitl and he fires that baby home!

It was at that point I went back to sitting on pins and needles. Could the Oilers hold off the champs and take this game to OT? The answer… Yes.

How many people were scared off of Leon Draisaitl at the draft because they thought his skating was weak? Well it’s been a year and some since he was selected by the Oilers and in that time his feet have grown wings. Wings attached to a an unstoppable locomotive.

Did you see the move he put on Jonathan Toews, one of the greatest two-way players in the league if not all-time, only to blow past him and create the best chance for the Oilers to win the game? If only Corey Crawford’s glove wasn’t so big Hall might’ve scored… I’m just kidding. That was an amazing save and it ultimately led to the goal by Marian Hossa to give Chicago the win… Boo.

All-in-all it was a great hockey game and I feel bad for the Oilers this year because things are seemingly coming together but they aren’t at the same time and they’re not getting any help from the refs. In fact I believe the refs are doing more harm than good at this point and should possibly be getting reviewed with a stronger magnifying glass by the powers that be. What I mean is that this isn’t the same team we watched in years past. There’s pushback, there’s more scoring, and the games are much closer. I read that out of the 19 games played this year 9 of them have been 1 goal games… Thus is progress.

Next up are the New Jersey Devils. I can see the Oilers stepping up and getting a win there but will it be a win with Jordan Eberle in the lineup or Travis Hamonic? I guess we’re going to see real soon here!

I hope you enjoyed the read!

Take Care!

BLH

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen

BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap Nov 8th-14th

Aww. Nuts.

Oilers had four games and they lost three of them. They did pull a surprise win against Anaheim despite being down (which is a recurring theme this year) Really, they had only one stinker of a game and that was probably against Arizona where they lost 4-1. They lost 4-2 against Chicago, but they had an amazing twenty shots in the second period but Corey Crawford decided to become a wall and they lost a close one against LA due to silly mistakes.

There are some glimmers of hope there but moral victories can only do so much for the fans and the team itself.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

3. Oscar Klefbom: Klefbom has been one of our best defencemen this year. Don’t look now, but in 18 games he has 10 points. I remember there being some concern about his offensive production but he’s pace for a 46 point season, although I’m sure he’ll trail off. I thought he was struggling at the start but he’s really picked up his game these last few games. It’s a great sight.

2. Taylor Hall: Ho hum, Hall has 20 points and is tied for fourth in NHL scoring. There were some people who didn’t think he was one of the top at his position (I have him third behind Ovechkin and Benn). He scored a tying goal in the third last night on his birthday. He’s a gem and it sucks that he’s wasted six years so far playing for a bad hockey team.

1. Leon Draisaitl: Leon is flat out a monster at the moment. Not only has he matched his point total from last season, he is sitting at thirteen points in only eight games. Like Klefbom, he’s bound to cool down the road but holy hell is he ever impressive. He seems to score at the right times and looks golden with Taylor Hall. Against Anaheim he had an impressive back check which lead to the game winning goal. Love the guy and I’m happy he’s ours.

Edmonton Oilers Rumors 

There’s one rumor that Cam Fowler may be available and our very own Zach Laing looked at it over here . It would be an intruiging fit.

Some other names out there: Patrick Marleau and Matt Duchene. I don’t think they will be Edmonton Oilers bound and I think Marleau is moved (my NHL 16 be a gm always has Marleau traded, mostly to the Predators) but Duchene raises some eyebrows. I wonder what’s going on in Colorado: they already lost Stastny, O’Reilly and Duchene is not the problem. I don’t think Joe Sakic is very good in hockey ops and the record reflects it.

Around the League

 

Highlights

Seguin, Benn and Klingberg are scary in 3v3 Overtime

 

Jake Allen went to jail for robbery

 

 

Devils stacked their pucks in the shape of the Eiffel Tower

 

 

Looking Ahead

Only two games on the docket for the Edmonton Oilers this week: They face the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Wednesday and the New Jersey Devils at home on Friday

That’s it for this week’s roundup!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL

BLH Post Gamer G18 Oilers VS. Kings: Royally Flushed

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What if I told you that was the best performance I’ve seen from the Oilers this season? Would you believe me? No? Well what if I told you the team was without it’s top two centers? Would you believe me then? What if I said the team was playing with three rookies in the lineup and an underperforming goaltender? Would it still be my claim still be unbelievable? Not really.

The Oilers were without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Benoit Pouliot was probably playing at about 60%. I heard on a couple occasions from Garry Galley, who was working between the benches, that Pou was as white as a ghost each time he came off the ice. It looked as if a few guys were less than stellar heath-wise tonight to boot.

But a gutsy performance no less.

The fact of the matter is the team is sticking with the big boys and not “folding their hands” when they’re down by a goal or two. This is very encouraging but it’s heartbreaking too because the Oilers just aren’t quite at that point where they can get over the final hump and pick up that goal to push them over the top or hold on long enough to force overtime.

Jim has it right. The veterans are the ones that were supposed to come in and shore up those rookie mistakes. The reality is, it’s the veterans that are making the rookie mistakes. I’m flabbergasted that Andrej Sekera is this bad at moving the puck, Mark Fayne as well. At what point are the Oilers going to stop cherry picking veteran defencemen from the Eastern Conference teams?

Speaking of Fayne, we haven’t seen him make a deplorable mistake in a couple games. Hopefully he can shake off the tough start the same way Teddy Purcell has. Wow! Teddy bear is on top of his game and really looking good! Would love to see him continue this for a little longer so that he’ll bring in a considerable return in a trade.

Trades… The 20 game mark is coming and bevy is about to burst in Edmonton. A few deals have been mentioned in the past week here at Beer League Heroes:

I don’t think the Oilers will go that far but then again the Jets got shellacked by the Predators yesterday and their fans were ready to jump ship and mortgage everything. I’m telling ya I think Chiarelli is going to try and get his Chara and that man is Dustin Byfuglien. I don’t know what the cost is on that fella player-wise but dollar-wise I think he’d be in the $6m to $7.5m range for at least 6 years; which would be a tough pill to swallow but it’s either that, offer-sheeting someone (Trouba, S.Jones, Lindholm, Vatanen, Gudbranson, Barrie, Spurgeon), or continue developing what they already have.

What do you think? Is it time for the Oilers to make a move or should they just be patient because the team isn’t going to make the playoffs anyhow?

Pretty disappointed with Eric Gryba tonight and Andrej Sekera. Is it McLellan’s system that is sending these dman flailing about when they get the puck? I mean they’ve both been in the league for more than a few years… Shouldn’t they be able to make a pass or clear the puck effectively?

I feel bad for Cam Talbot, he’s caught in that rut that is goalie sans confidence… And we know where that is going to take him… Probably to a better team where he’ll flourish, Am I right? I mean honestly, he was at fault for that first goal against. The guy is allergic to his posts or something. I don’t get it. The one thing I do give him credit for is not losing it completely. Sure he lets in the bad goal but he bounces back and makes a couple good ones later on.

Leon Draisaitl continues to impress alongside Taylor Hall. That first goal they combined on was pure class. It’s amazing the chemistry they’re building. I mean who would’ve thought before the season started that it would be Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov becoming what they have become and it would be the German Gretzky and the Canadian Kurri who’d be lighting up the NHL and carrying the Oilers offence?

If those pairs can continue to produce points consistently, how long until RNH and Jordan Eberle are deemed surplus to requirement and shipped off for help on the backend? Just a little food for thought.

Walter Foddis’ Post Game Shooting Metrics

Next up the Chicago Blackhawks back home in the friendly confines of Rexall Place. Does anybody find it ironic that a team that has been in a constant rebuild for about a decade plays in an arena called Rexall Place?… Wrecks All… Place… I dunno, just an observation.

Now the reigning Stanley Cup champs are nothing to shake a stick at but their sitting at 9-7-1 and just keeping pace with the wildcard teams. I think the Oilers will stay with them again but they’re going to have to do something about Panarin and Kane. Shut them down and hopefully the rest will follow. Oh, and don’t let Corey Crawford steal the show again.

A three day break and the boys won’t have any excuses to sit back on either. I’m hoping Anders Nilsson gets the call again to be honest. Gotta go with the hot hand.

There are still a few hours left in the BLH Tee Shop SALE folks! Head on over and pick up a t-shirt for $14 or a hoodie for $35! They’re perfect gifts for christmas and we’ve got a shirt for every Oilers fan out there! And even if you’re not an Oilers fan, we’ve got a 16-bit Superstars shirt for your team too! Click on the pic below and head over to check out the inventory!

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL

BLH Post Gamer G17 Oilers VS. Coyotes: Blazing Arizona

From healthy scratch to honorary face-off taker! Mark Fayne everyone! Photo courtesy of Norm Hall

Ok be honest, how many people thought that the Oilers blew their respective loads in that first period? I mean right off the bat they were in the Coyotes zone and buzzing around like a bunch of pissed off hornets! I was jacked when they scored because that was a thing of beauty between Hall and Draisaitl.

But then everything started to come into perspective for a team on the latter half of a back-to-back. Darnell Nurse couldn’t get that puck to Sekera and Leon Draisaitl, for some reason, was already bolting the zone looking for the breakaway… OEL scooped up the pass meant for the right winger and deposited a seeing eye shot top cheese to tie the game up… Boo!

https://twitter.com/YotesHereToStay/status/665037948232925184

I had a feeling the team would start to slow down going into the 2nd period and slow down is what they did. The Coyotes took full advantage of a tired Oilers team and potted two more. The first was on the PP, Andrej Sekera couldn’t retrieve the puck on a Coyotes dump-in and uber rookie Max Domi thiefed it from under Sekera’s nose, proceeded towards the net; waited for Eric Gryba to commit, and then sauced a lovely little pass to a waiting and untouched Shane Doan. Bingo bango baby! Coyotes up by 1.

The next goal came not four minutes later as the Oilers 4th line couldn’t manage to keep the puck in the Arizona zone, the Coyotes Kyle Chipchura picked it up in the neutral zone and broke in to the Oilers zone versus Oscar Klefbom and Luke Gazdic… That just spells trouble right? So Chipchura stops up just at the top of the circle on the left wall and decides to let his teammates catch up, then he drops a pass off to John “Wayne Gretzky is my middle name” Scott; who in turn fires a shot at the Oilers net. Anders Nilsson’s lack of rebound control leads to Stefan Elliott tucking that baby away… Wait.. Yes, that’s right. DEFENCEMAN Stefan Elliott in the Oilers slot… Never let another man in your slot. That’s your slot. Dirty slot… Check it out the slotty action below.


You’re telling me Luke Gazdic couldn’t tie up Elliott’s stick enough on this one to prevent the puck from going in?… Yeeesh! Why did Benoit Pouliot choose this day to be hung over? Not that he would’ve prevented that goal but… You know what I mean.

I’m not sure what Pouliot’s deal was. He was too sick to play. Surely it wasn’t because he had a few too many “Arizona Iced Teas”. But I’m just taking the piss. So take it easy ultras.

Walter Foddis’ Post Game Shooting Metrics

That was about it for Edmonton. Their performance in the third period didn’t inspire a lot of confidence and I for one was happy for it all to end. Arizona did end up putting one more in the net though as Iiro Pakarinen unsuccessfully tried to knock the puck past the Mike Stone at centre ice which lead to the Coyotes dman bringing the puck back into Oilers zone. Stone tried to put the puck on the net but it pinballed around the slot for a few seconds before returning to Stone’s stick and then he fired it at the net where Domi was having his afternoon tea. Easy tap-in due to Nilsson’s inability to control the rebound. UGH!!!


I’m happy that game is done and over with. The Oilers are having a helluva time trying to defeat the Coyotes recently and it’s such a boring bloody game. The NHL wants to improve scoring, how about eliminating boring hockey teams? Nothing worse than watching defense first teams.

Oh hey, did you catch John Shannon saying that the Coyotes are looking to move… To a new arena soon… I’m not sure if anybody told him and it’s something I’m noticing all to much lately. The lack of regular season attendance in those southern markets. Just take a gander at the crowd’s at a Carolina, Anaheim, Florida, Dallas, or Arizona game. Not sure who’s counting the tickets at those games but I think they’re coming in a little high. Yet, if any of those teams make the playoffs it’s hockey central… Bloody shame I think it is. If the NHL and their owners are willing to foot the bill for teams like the Panthers and the Coyotes, they should just relocate them to Canadian cities. You can be damned sure that a team in Quebec City or Saskatoon wouldn’t have attendance problems apart from not having enough seats to accommodate everyone.

Ok. Take a breath…

I think the best Oiler on the night was Taylor Hall. He was flying out there and really trying to get his team to follow suit. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the team wasn’t having any of it. One name I didn’t hear a lot nor did I see a lot was Mark Fayne’s… Is that a good thing? Well they do say a defenceman has done his job well if you’re not talking about him…

Ah well, better luck versus the Kings on Saturday. I’m looking forward to a much better game from the rested Oilers and there must be some payback for that last game versus LA and the goal that Johnny Quick pulled out of the net.

The other thing I’m looking forward to… The 20 game mark. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Until then folks! Take care!

BLH

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All the tees are $14!
Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL

BLH Post Gamer G16 Oilers VS. Ducks: Duck Duck Duck TEDDY!

What a win! That was the kind of performance the team desperately needed to capitalize on. The first period was a tire fire as the Anaheim Ducks played the game they’re known for. I’m not sure the Oilers maintained possession for more than 10 seconds in that period and it was starting to feel like another loss was coming. The dinky fluke of a goal Corey Perry scored off of Darnell Nurse’s foot didn’t help either.

https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/664650893741002752

The start of the second was still a tad wanting from the fans perspective but as soon as they got on the board with that Draisaitl goal you could feel the momentum coming. The Oilers didn’t dominate that second frame like they did in Chicago but it was still a much improved effort on their part. As the end of the period was winding down Darnell Nurse and Ryan Getzlaf came together…

Getzlaf did the right thing there not only because there was literally no point in starting fisticuffs but also because Nurse would’ve torn him to shreds. You don’t think so? I refer you back to the fight with Hunter Smith who’s a good 4 inches taller than Getzlaf.

The third period was a throwback to better days given the amount of back and forth that was going on. First it was former Oiler captain Shawn Horcoff being left all alone in the slot. Then it was Oscar Klefbom unleashing a bomb from the point. After that it was Corey Perry’s turn to be left all alone in front of the net so he could dangle Anders Nilsson silly. But just when you thought the boys were out of it… They’re brought you back in! Taylor Hall took a hit to keep the puck in the Ducks zone which found its way behind the net to a hulking Leon Draisaitl who, whilst holding off the Ducks defender with one arm, deposited the puck out front for Baby Nuge to cash in on! Tie game!

All four of those goals came within six minutes and I was on pins and needles for the rest of the period. Is it weird to have that kind of anxiety this early in the year?

Well the boys in blue and orange held on to take it to 3v3 OT. I have to admit I was a bit tentative knowing that Perry and Getzlaf weren’t starting the OT. I more or less knew that the Ducks could hold the Oilers off the board until they could get their powerhouses on the ice. Well, they didn’t amount to much because thanks to a heroic backcheck by Leon Draisaitl on Cam Fowler and a clever decision by Anders Nilsson not to freeze the puck, the Ducks were caught on a line change and Andrej Sekera was able to spring Teddy Purcell on a breakaway leading to the game winning goal! Check it out below!

So all-in-all it was a very entertaining game to watch (apart from the 1st). I loved the pushback from the boys and it gives me hope that there’s a team here. They’ve shown up vs the Habs, the Blackhawks, and now the Ducks. They took on the Kings and the Predators fairly well to boot. What this team is going to look like when it’s completely devoid of injuries could be something special.

My player of the game would be Leon Draisaitl. The German Tank was indomitable and unavoidable for the Ducks tonight. They didn’t have an answer for his physicality or his intelligence. Darnell Nurse was out there but it was Draisaitl that was taking the Ducks to the clinic. Good on him!

Oh and one other thing. We finally got to see the team get physical. Iiro the Hero took a nasty hit from behind from Patrick Maroon and boy he picked the wrong time to do that as Luke Gazdic was on the ice as well. I don’t think Maroon will be doing that again because Gazzer basically destroyed him with repeated smashes to the face.

It’s so nice to see when the team finally decides they’re tired of taking all the little cheap shots and pushes back. I’d love to see it on a game-by-game basis to be honest. The team’s PK is pretty darn good, so I’m not worried about that. Check out the fight at the end of the post below.

Next game is up against the upstart Arizona Coyotes. I feel like we should be wary of them because their goalie is back to his shenanigans and Max Domi is really lighting it up so far but there’s another part of me that says, “Come on… It’s the Coyotes. What harm can they do?”… So I’ll be looking forward to the Oilers maintaining the momentum but it is the latter half of a back-to-back, so cautious optimism it is!

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GAZZER FIGHTS!