Bounce-Back Win: Edmonton's Battle Against Adversity
Edmonton’s Hockey team just came off a tough loss against Chicago, who hadn’t won a game yet. Edmonton has shown that they can bounce back pretty well so far this season, given that they set an NHL record for most (five) comeback wins to start a season. Will Edmonton’s young guns be able to overcome their next obstacle: beating Philadelphia?
The lines remained nearly the same, following their loss in Chicago; however, Alex Chiasson got pushed up to the second line. I’m always excited to see Chiasson get a chance given the short success that he found with Mcdavid a short time ago. However, Edmonton started their 3rd line against Philadelphia first. The third line did well, giving an opportunity for Dave Tipped to cycle Edmonton’s top line on with Mcdavid and Draisaitl. It’s always nice to start the game off on a strong suit and Draisaitl made that happen scoring his 5th goal with 18:47 remaining in the 1st period. Draisaitl made a perfect shot, low-blocker side, against a young goalie; Draisaitl kept his 7-game point streak going strong.
A main concern coming into tonight’s game was Edmonton’s lack of discipline; they seem to be taking a lot of penalties. Ethan Bear took a penalty early, but this was a good penalty to take. The player on Philadelphia had a breakaway chance and Ethan Bear made sure that he had no chance in scoring by taking this penalty. Edmonton shouldn’t mind taking penalties like this given that they have the number one ranked penalty kill in the league – sitting at 95% when Bear took the penalty. It’s been known in hockey forever that your best penalty killer has to be your goalie and Koskinen stopped some good opportunities in the early penalty. The two-goalie system has, at times, been criticized by fans; but, for Edmonton it’s looking to be effective early. Both goalies (Smith and Koskinen) have been firing on all cylinders early in the season. If the goalies can keep performing so well, Edmonton’s chances are looking good. The lack of discipline did come back to bite Edmonton though, when Markus Granlund took a hooking penalty in the neutral zone. Penalties outside of the defensive zone are a concern that Edmonton will need to work on in the future.
Edmonton’s transitional play has been largely improved this year. The defencemen seem to be hopping up in the play more often. Edmonton’s second goal, scored by Ethan Bear, came with 5:08 left in the 1st. This goal was Bear’s first of the season and it was a beautifully executed transition that saw him rewarded. The bad things in games are usually easier to focus on. This leaves the question: does Edmonton being 30th in the league for shots per game really matter if their shooting percentage remains so high? If Edmonton’s lower lines keep killing minutes, and their top lines keep scoring so much, why should this matter?
The lob-pass has become a trademark in the NHL over the last few years. I always thought that Edmonton should use this much more often given that they have the fastest player in the league. Just flip the puck in the air and let him beat defenders. This is exactly what happened on Edmonton’s 3rd goal. Mcdavid started three or four steps behind the defender and just absolutely burned him. Edmonton seemed to be behind momentum-wise at that point in the game, but after that goal it was all Edmonton for the following minutes.
Edmonton clearly has some things the need to work on like undisciplined penalties and getting outshot by nearly 2.5x in games (like this one vs. Philadelphia); but when there’s much more good than bad, Edmonton players can walk around the city with their heads held high.
Isaac Lamoureux
Edmonton Journalist