Oilers 2016-17 Season: the Rise of McSavior?

[Mr. Analog]

I'm scared guys, I think we might have a hockey team on our hands this year...

Don't jinx it! Just keep assuming its a bunch of todlers fighting over who gets the puck.

True. The cynic in me is wondering which will happen first; injury or incompetence (the despair, then golf)

BUT I GOTTA BELIEVE!

[Thorin]

The new coach clearly has said, "This is how you play hockey".  And then the manager traded the top dog (Hall), and everyone else sat up and realized they're not safe either.

I've noticed there are less shots on net this year, but the shots they do take are more often from the area where you have a high chance to score; the "home plate" area.  It starts at the goal posts, goes out to the faceoff dots, then straight up to the top of the circles.  Shoot from inside there and you're more likely to be celebrating a goal.

Also, coach will actually back up what he says.  "Don't take stupid penalties, they hurt the team; I'll bench you if you do".  In an earlier game, Pouliot took stupid penalties.  Then he sat on the bench without getting sent out for two entire periods, even though he's our second-best left winger.

I have to laugh, too, at people complaining about the second line (Pouliot, Nugent-Hopkins, Kassian) not getting enough goals.  Pou-Nuge got two goals last night!  The thing is, McLellan seemed to be matching the second line against the opponents' top lines whenever possible, giving (hopefully) easier competition for the first and third lines.

Dare to dream?  I'm staying even-keeled, I'm sure some losses will happen while they're on the road next month.  But beating Washington like that, they played a great game, the only goal scored by Washington was when Ovechkin was being covered and then suddenly the guy covering him (Kassian) skated away.  In Kassian's defense, he's a winger and I'm sure he's been told as a winger he's supposed to cover the other team's defense.  Just, not if you're already shoulder-to-shoulder with the other team's most prodigious scorer and you're almost at our net...

[Thorin]

The Oilers played what is normally considered a "scheduled loss" today: second of a back-to-back pair of games, third game in four days, on the road so can't even control who's playing against who.  Teams in this situation only win 22% of the time, thus "scheduled loss".  They also had the statistically weaker goalie in net (by a fair bit), and lost two right wingers to injury the night before.  And they managed to squeak out a 2-1 win!

Talbot and Gustavsson (the goalies) are both doing everything they can to help the team.

The third and fourth liners know their roles (penalty kill, battle the other team's higher lines to a tie so our higher lines can score and win the game), and they're also helping out with the scoring.  For instance, Lander/Letestu/Pitlick lead in points per 60 minutes played.  Now, they only see half as much ice time as the top players, but they're definitely making sure to be useful when they get to step on the ice.

People get worried about Nuge and then the next game he picks up a couple of points.

People see McDavid not get a point in a game or two and get all worried - he's still over a point per game, and if he keeps this up all season he'll hit 90-100 points!

Also interesting, the game they lost in New York had the Oilers' tying goal disallowed, and then the Rangers winning goal came in the last 90 seconds of the game - it was a very close and well-fought game, nothing to be ashamed of.

They now have as many points as they did last year at the end of November, and there's still almost four weeks to go.

[Mr. Analog]

Yesterday's game was a real treat, got to see a lot of pieces come together, makes me want to believe in things again

[Mr. Analog]

Back on top of the Pacific Division

Great goal last night!
https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/801811178649288705

...I know... I'm scared too

[Thorin]

Great goal last night!
https://twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/801811178649288705

I was watching that, and after four viewings I still can't see the puck entering the net.  I see it on his stick, I see it in the net, I know people say it banked off the goalie...  It just happens so quickly!

...

Edmonton is 7th out of 30 in the league.
Edmonton is 2nd out of 14 in the conference.
Edmonton is 1st out of 7 in the division.
Edmonton is 25 points in 21 games, or 1.19 points per game, or trending to 97 points for the season.
Teams will probably need 1.11 points per game, or 91 points for the season, to get into playoffs.
They're going in the right direction, even with that slump in early November.

[Thorin]

Now they're 32 points in 28 games, that's 1.14 points per game projecting to 93 points. Should be good enough for playoffs! We'll see, though. It was Philly last year that broke McDavid's clavicle, and they're playing Philly tonight. Hopefully there's no repeat.

[Mr. Analog]

Now they're 32 points in 28 games, that's 1.14 points per game projecting to 93 points. Should be good enough for playoffs! We'll see, though. It was Philly last year that broke McDavid's clavicle, and they're playing Philly tonight. Hopefully there's no repeat.

I am excite!

[Thorin]

I didn't get to watch much tonight, I was driving. Looks like it was a fun game to watch if you like goals, hell if you only enjoyed the game if they won.

Oh, and the guy who broke McDavid's clavicle last year apparently told him on the ice tonight he did it on purpose.

[Mr. Analog]

Lots of scoring on both sides unfortunately. I wish it was a OT loss though

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[Mr. Analog]

That was a great shootout goal last game, McDavid is earning his keep, that's for sure.

But I have to wonder if the target on his back is growing and what an injury might do to the team. A lot of great things are happening throughout the team and I have no doubt that it is in part because they gave the C to the right guy, I worried that mid-season injury could sink the teams progress.

Next game tonight!

[Thorin]

That was a great shootout goal last game, McDavid is earning his keep, that's for sure.

I found the game itself to be dull and uninspiring, first ten minutes had nice crisp passes and lots of movement, and then it was like the air was let out of the tires.  Good on them for not giving up, though.  McDavid's first shootout goal, well, it was like he was shooting at a shooter tutor, not an actively-trying-to-stop-him goalie.

Lots of chatter about why the coach scratched Pouliot while playing Hendricks and Beck - vet vs vet, Pouliot has shown he's more capable than Hendricks and Beck's a rookie.

One thing's for sure, they've lost lots of d-man time this season, but for once they have some depth at defense so every time a defender gets injured, it seems there's someone else available to take their place.  Sekera is turning out to be an excellent defenseman, he's our #1D, and Kris Russell is doing okay keeping up with him.  Klefbom and Larsson are doing good as a pair, they look like they'll be our second pair this season.  That means rookies and lesser d-men like Nurse and Davidson and Benning and Gryba get to shine on the third pairing.  I really hope they find another decent right-handed defenseman to put in with Sekera, and then put Russell back on the left side (he's a lefty shooter).

1-2	Sekera	-	??
1-2	Klefbom	-	Larsson
2-3	Russell	-	Benning
2-3	Davidson	-	Gryba
3-3	Nurse	-	Fayne

Five defensive pairings is what a typical NHL team needs to make it through all the possible injuries in a season.  They're almost there.  With a couple that could be considered the first pairing and several that could be the second pairing, it doesn't seem that anyone needs to play higher up the order (more minutes against the other teams' elite players) than they're currently capable of.

[Thorin]

Man that was @%&#ty reffing last night against Arizona.  Like, full-on, absolute garbage.

[Thorin]

Huh, should have posted in this thread instead of the Gretzky one.

[Thorin]

Remember when we were worried about injuries?