HOCKEY: In the Box with Brent & Craig
Happy Palentines
We’ve won 7 of 8 games? What the shit? Brent and Craig sit down and figure out if the Oilers are just that good – or the Sens just that band as they sweep 4 games against the Ottawa losers. Can the Oil keep this up, or is it all a mirage?
Let’s find out and happy birthday Craig!
Craig Douglas
The truncated season continues to slog along, and … what’s this? An undefeated road trip? That’s something to get mildly excited about. Sure, sure, two of those wins came against the wretched Ottawa Senators, but one of them didn’t. The games against the Sens had plenty that you could complain about – Kassian getting hurt during a fight, the team being wildly outshot by a terrible opponent, getting little to no offense from their star players… They did still had two decent performances from their net minders, a whole lot of secondary scoring, including several from the backend and … look, if you want to write a long examination of games against the Ottawa Senators, please be my guest. It’s my birthday and I have no interest in discussing that. Rather, I want to talk about the more recent game that was of far greater importance.
The long arm of the virus finally reached the North Division, albeit to an unknown extent, as Puljujarvi was placed on the COVID caution list, causing the game to be delayed for an hour. We shall have to wait to see if anyone is affected or infected by this news. The game did start at 6:00 local time, and it turned out to be worth the wait. This game was going to be another test of the Oilers vs reality, and we could only hope that they would match up better than they did against Calgary on the previous Saturday. It turned out that they matched up great, perhaps the boys beating Montreal doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the good team that we always envision them to be before the puck drops, but it does put a lovely exclamation point on the road trip.
The line of Khaira, Archibald and Ennis continued to look like the real deal, with actual chemistry and points on the board to boot. Mike Smith, the beleaguered backup, pitched a shutout to the tune of 38 saves against a real NHL offense, and thanks to the stellar defense in front of him, those 38 shots were mostly harmless and certainly not as overwhelming as the number might suggest. More goals from the defense, more points from the aforementioned line of KhArEns, another nice outing by the special teams, and a nice night in the face off dot. There was a lot to like about the game against Montreal, and the road trip in general. With the next ten(!) games all coming against the teams just above or below the Oil in the standings (followed by a nice three game breather against Ottawa) this is looking like a team worth watching again. It sure is nice finally having defensemen who can get the job done at both ends of the ice, they’ve been a maligned group for far too long, but the promotion of some of the long gestating kids on the D seems to have finally given the local squad a reason for optimism when it comes to the defenders, mix in a little secondary scoring, and I’ll of the things I usually complain about are gone, even if it’s just for one week.
The Connor McDavid Player Of The Series Award brought to you by Humpty’s
Ooh La La, it’s my pleasure to present this week’s CMPOTSA to … someone else??? That’s right, McDavid will loan out his award for the first time in its brief history, as the recipient this time around is none other than Darnell Nurse. With four goals already during the month of February while putting up +25 solid minutes a night, he is very fucking deserving of the honor.
Predicsh! Brought to you by Red, Red Wine
02/15 vs Winnipeg – It’s overtime time as these two teams show off just how even they are, the Jets take the first one as the Oil look just a little rusty after the three days off. Final score Jets 4 Oil 3 (OT)
02/17 vs Winnipeg – OT time continues, as these two teams battle like hell. They’re just too even though as they once again stay as close as can be, trading goals and leads until it all culminates in another OT clash, this time taken by the locals.
Final score: Oil 5 Jets 4 (OT)
Brent Oliver
Long suffering In the Box readers will know that I’m not happy when the Oilers lose, and even less happy when they win. How am I supposed to deal with this? Optimism? They’re just going to let me down again!
See? I’m a mess.
I’ll do my best to react in a positive way and applaud the efforts of this team properly beating a shitty team (Ottawa) and improperly beating a great team (Montreal). We still have our defensive bumbles but maybe Smith can settle down some of those fears as he’s still the best puck moving goalie in the league. I’m not saying he’s a great goalie, just good with the stick.
So, where do we go from here? As with every single game this season – it’s a divisional battle. With the Jets coming this week, we’ll need to pick up at least 3 points from them to maintain a spot in the top 3 in the north. As mentioned before, the Oil look maybe a bit more like a contender, so moves for a defenseman or goalie may be the right call soon, and the rumours of John Gibson coming up from Anaheim would have to happen pretty soon.
To rosterbate just a little bit, I would trade Koskinen and 1st rounder to Anaheim for Gibson – Smith takes over at back up. Grab one of Ottawa’s veteran stay at home defenseman since that team is going nowhere, and hand over a 2nd or 3rd rounder. Bouchard has been great on D, but we still need that big shutdown guy to eat up 20 minutes and block some pucks.
Who knows… a guy can dream.
Back to back at the Jets this week, then home at home with the Flames on the weekend. Will the Oil continue their good play all the way up to the dreaded Hockey Night in Canada game Saturday? Or, will they sink back to earth and you’ll get Brent writing about his misery like every other week. His birthday is coming up soon too!
See you next time – In the Box.
