Photo: Brian Collett | Inside The Rink
The Good:
I don’t think I have to keep you in suspense with this one. How could The Good not be a forward group that’s scored 17 goals in their first 3 games to open a new season? Of course the big three are at the top of the team’s stats sheet. But there’s also a nice surprise of balanced scoring throughout some of the other lines. One forward is even tied with Leon Draisaitl in points. Huge props as well to Trent Frederic for fighting Ryan Lindgren in the Seattle game on Saturday night. Edmonton knows he needs a better season, and he probably remembered Evan Bouchard’s injury at the World Championships last year, caused by a Lindgren hit. Bouchard said it wasn’t dirty, but Frederic was just following “The Code,” as they say. Bouch doesn’t seem affected by it anyway, with all those points he got.
The Bad:
The reason there needed to be secondary scoring is the huge number of key injuries they’ve had since the season barely started. The only negative about the offense is the power play, which you’d also expect with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman both being out. The man advantage will produce again when familiar faces return. Matt Savoie is also out, which is why I hoped that would be a chance for Isaac Howard getting top 9 minutes. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: offensive forwards on the 4th line are useless. Frederik Andersen being out makes me more worried about Tristan Jarry. I was, however, happy to hear Mike Babcock say he gave Devon Levi advice before Saturday night’s game. That feels like a perfect Segway into the last point.
The Ugly:
Yes, I know the third game was way better. I still can’t forget that a Cup contender allowed 13 goals in two games against the Canucks. They had to erase a three goal deficit in the third period of their home opener and then nearly blew a six goal lead in Vancouver’s home opener. Because, you know, it wouldn’t be Oilers hockey if we didn’t see stupidity. The defensive play was, to quote Babs, “Ridiculous”. And neither goalie was any better: 6 goals on 23 shots one night and 7 goals on 22 shots the other night. It’s somewhat easier to forgive the latter because of the gap in NHL experience compared to the former. It only took Jarry the very first game to have his feet held to the fire. Can he get the same advice from Andersen that Levi is getting?
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Oilers fan in Toronto. Staying up past my bedtime for Western games since the mid 2000s.
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