October 21, 2014
steve laidlaw
2014-10-21
Recapping a light Monday night of NHL action, talking Drouin's debut, Hedman's replacement and more…
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The Oilers played a pretty good game last night securing their first win of the season. They weren't dominant by any means but they played well, generated chances and got a win. It was refreshing to see. They did a bunch of little things like back-checking, moving men from out in front of the net, clearing rebounds, those sorts of things. The types of things that help avoid the puck winding up in the back of the net.
It still did, twice. Once was 100% on Ben Scrivens. A random shot from the corner by Brian Boyle bounced off the defenseman and Scrivens didn't hold his post. Weak sauce.
The other was on a good one-timer from Brett Connolly who played a really good game. He was buzzing the net the whole night and even had a goal disallowed in the first period due to goaltender interference.
The two big questions for the Lightning going into this match were: where would Jonathan Drouin play and who would fill in for the injured Victor Hedman?
Drouin lined up on the second line and second power play unit, directly replacing Alex Killorn. That was good news for owners of Vladimir Namestnikov and Nikita Kucherov who had both certainly earned their spots in the lineup but were at risk all the same.
I wouldn't say that Drouin played a particularly strong game. I probably wouldn't have really noticed him if I wasn't looking for him, to be honest. It's one game though, so I'm not passing judgement.
As for replacing Hedman, it was Anton Stralman who took Hedman's spot on the top power play unit. The power play went 0/2 so you couldn't necessarily call it a success but I felt like Stralman played fine.
It is worth mentioning that Jason Garrison looked a lot more dangerous skating on the second unit but he isn't anywhere near as intuitive a player as Stralman, which is why I figured it would be the latter to replace Hedman. Garrison did manage an assist in the contest though.
Hedman, by the way, is out four-six weeks following surgery on a broken finger.
More injury news for the Lightning. Ryan Callahan went down in this one with a lower-body injury and did not return. No word on the specifics as I'm writing this but it's looking doubtful that he'll suit up tonight.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Connolly rewarded for his strong play with a promotion to the top line as he offers some similar qualities to Callahan but I really think that Tyler Johnson is the one who deserves the top line role as he was easily one of the best Lightning players last night. He notched an assist and had four SOG. Just a very creative player. Give him a shot with Steven Stamkos.
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Jeff Petry skated the most minutes of any Oiler and suddenly they win a game. Not a shocker. He did go minus-one in this game so he wasn't perfect but he is the Oilers' best defenseman. He needs to be skating 22+ minutes a night.
There are lots of trade rumours swirling about Petry but I seriously cannot understand why the Oilers would move him unless somehow a top-six centerman is coming back and even then it's just patching one whole while creating another.
Nail Yakupov played very well despite seeing only 10:47 of ice time. He notched an assist but was generally a dangerous player while on the ice. I'm not sure what the Oilers are doing with Teddy Purcell skating over 14 minutes and Yakupov under 11 but it needs to stop, for all of our sakes.
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Follow me @SteveLaidlaw.
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