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NHL

BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap Dec 6-12th

Oh what a week for the Edmonton Oilers!

Last week the Edmonton Oilers did something we have not seen since 1987: they won all five games in a five game homestead. Last week, the Oilers went 3-0, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-2, beating the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in Overtime and beating The New York Rangers in a firewagon-like hockey game, 7-5.

Even better: The Oilers are only two points away from being second in the Pacific Division. Remember last December? Where they won two games all month? Where Dallas Eakins finally got fired?

It’s night and day between last year and this year. That said, need to stay grounded, especially for the highs and the lows. Only a couple weeks ago, people wanted to blow up the core and now we are talking about the P word for the first time  in a long time. Expectations should still be tempered.

That said, we should enjoy every last second of it. This is without McDavid, Pouliot or Yakupov either.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars

3. Leon Draisaitl: Oh Leon. You only have 26 points in 20 games now, outscoring names like Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. Ho hum. You’re in the top twenty for NHL scoring right now, despite playing the first ten games in the AHL. You have been easily the silver lining of the McDavid injury where you’ve stepped your game up to a level that nobody saw coming. Sure, your extremely high shooting percentage is bound to go down, but what do you do? Just post four assists against the New York Rangers. You only had 1 goal and 6 assists for 7 points in three games.  He’s only 20. 

2. Taylor Hall: Every week I chuckle because there’s actually some people out there that wanted Taylor Hall gone from the team because of attitude problems or character problems. Every week Hall just continues to prove those people horribly wrong. Taylor Hall is the heart and soul of this Hockey Team and is currently fourth in the NHL scoring race. You know what’s the best part of Taylor Hall’s game right now? He’s +15. I don’t really like +/- as a stat, but boy is he ever shining. Hall had the Overtime winner against San Jose and had 4 goals, 4 assists for 8 points in three games. I think he’s the future captain of the Edmonton Oilers, if not Connor McDavid

1. Glen Sather: Yes, I’m stealing a note from the Sportsnet crew and giving current New York Rangers President and former longtime GM, Glen Sather the first star of the week. Sather was honoured on Friday night before the game for his contributions with the Edmonton Oilers. Like him or not, Glen Sather was just as instrumental as the Hall of Fame players he had under his roster. He combined a swagger and fierceness into his Edmonton Oilers. It was great seeing him walk all the way down and through the crowd, interacting with fans and giving a great speech. It was a fitting night too: The Rangers and Oilers combined for 12 goals as his former team won the game. I even included a video for you guys to watch, in case you missed the ceremony. It was really a top notch effort.

Edmonton Oilers Rumors and News

One horrible nugget during that thrilling 7-5 win: The Oilers lost Oscar Klefbom to injury. He reportedly has a broken finger. That’s a really tough break (no pun intended).

That’s a huge hole to lose in the lineup. He’s been a beast 5v5 as Woodguy55 has pointed out. Very bad news.

Also: Mark Fayne was put on waivers and cleared. Nikita Nikitin was also called back up. Apparently Nikitin has been playing quite well in the AHL….so maybe we can give him the benefit of the doubt?

I tore into Nikitin during the pre season in a stinging article. I’ll hold my tongue for now.

Around the League

 

Highlights

Connor McDavid was featured on 60 Minutes. Here’s the link on YouTube

 

A bit late, but TSN recently did a Top 10 3v3 Overtime Goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gso4yyRgGg

 

Brayden Holtby is a Jedi.

 

The Week Ahead

The Edmonton Oilers play FOUR times this week and it’s a tough four game road trip.

Monday they visit Boston and Tuesday face the New York Rangers in back to back games.

Thursday they visit the Madhouse on Madison and the Chicago Blackhawks and finally Saturday they visit the very beatable Colorado Avalanche.

That’s the week that was! Follow me on Twitter and have a wonderful week Oil Fans.

 

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen, NHL

The BLH Oilers Weekly Round Up: October 4th-10th

Photo courtesy of John Russell

 

First week of the NHL season took place. The Edmonton Oilers played twice losing both games to St. Louis and Nashville, 3-1 and 2-0 respectively. Still, hockey is back and I could not be anymore happier.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

You know, it’s a bit tough looking for three stars because there was really only one player that stood out as a number one star in my eyes and the rest were a collective “meh”. Even more so, it’s hard to choose someone when you go scoreless in two games (I’m not counting the accidental bank in goal from St. Louis as one).

3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

He technically was credited with the goal against St. Louis but like I said, it was a complete fluke. Still, Nuge has been solid this year. He’s easily one of our best, if not best, defensive forward. He rarely looks lost out there. I’ve also noticed he’s not afraid to shoot the puck. I think him and Hall are a good fit together.

2. Nail Yakupov 

Hey! Nail finally got a chance to play with McDavid last night! That’s a positive right? He’s looked solid on both ends of the ice. He is causing turnovers in the offensive zone and is more tenacious. He needs to shoot the puck more though: there were times where he would look for a pass rather than a shot. Plus, he fumbled it twice on the blue line in the game against Nashville. Still, with Eberle out, it’s about time that Yakupov gets a chance in the top six and it’s up to him to keep it that way.

1. Cam Talbot 

This one is a landslide first star. Talbot was very solid to outstanding in the two games so far. I cannot say that of the four goals he let in that it was on him. He’s keeping the team in the games which has been a far cry from past seasons where the goalies could not save a beachball from going in. The irony is now the Oilers cannot score. Who saw that one coming? Talbot is looking like a number one goalie that the Oilers have needed so badly these last couple of seasons, two games in be damned.

Edmonton Oilers News and Rumors 

At this point of the season, there are not a lot of rumblings.

There was a rumor that Nikitin would be going to Russia. Alas, per Elliot Friedman, that will not be the case.  He’s going to be staying in Bakersfield for the foreseeable future.

Everyone’s favorite mostly out of touch TSN segment the Reporters are questioning if the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid are crumbling under pressure.  Before we take out the pitchforks, Farber does defend the notion as being silly. Which it totally is because it’s two games into the season.

Around the League 

Videos of the Week. 

We had our first 3v3 OT game it was absolute madness.

 

Henrik Lundqvist made the save of the year

 

Jack Eichel had his first NHL goal

As did Dylan Larkin

The Week Ahead

The Oilers take on Dallas on Tuesday, St. Louis on Thursday for our home opener and visit Calgary on Saturday for a Hockey Night in Canada game.

That’s your Weekly Roundup for this week!

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