“There are a lot of storylines to this game,” said Rick Tocchet, “but I think the top storyline is that [Connor] McDavid and [Leon] Draisaitl were terrific tonight.”
Who am I to argue with Rick Tocchet?
After the Vancouver Canucks stole Game 1 with a stunning comeback, the Edmonton Oilers were eager to avoid heading back home down 2-0 in the series. So, head coach Kris Knoblauch loaded up his top line, moving Draisaitl to the wing with McDavid and Zach Hyman.
It was a bold move, especially since Draisaitl was a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury. According to Knoblauch, that was part of the reason why he put him with McDavid.
“Mostly, it was just to protect Leon and not have him play his heavy minutes in the middle — the faceoffs, it’s a little more physical, a little more demanding on the body,” said Knoblauch. “We felt that if he played left wing, we can protect him. But there was no need to protect him, the way he played tonight.”
The combination of McDavid and Draisaitl was lethal for the Oilers all night and the Canucks simply had no response. That was a major problem as they barely left the ice, with McDavid playing over 28 minutes and Draisaitl over 27.
When McDavid and Draisaitl were on the ice together at even-strength, shot attempts were 36-to-9 for the Oilers, shots on goal were 16-to-3, and goals were 3-to-1. Add in the power play goal they combined on in the first period and you have all four Oilers goals.
The Canucks did so well at shutting McDavid down in Game 1 but with Draisaitl at his side, they just couldn’t manage it. The biggest issue wasn’t even how they played defensively against his line — instead, it was that they never forced McDavid and Draisaitl to defend in their own zone.
“The problem was, we didn’t play very well in the offensive zone,” said J.T. Miller. “We made it very easy on them. I talk all the time about how the best defence is playing forward and sustaining O-zone time and we didn’t do that one time today. That’s on us. If we’re not going to spend time in the O-zone, good luck at that point against them.”
Miller suggested that they simply didn’t win enough battles to earn the puck. When you lose as many battles as they did, you’re gifting two of the best players in the world possession time. That’s not a recipe for success.
“I thought we defended well once we were in there but you can’t play the whole night against them in that zone and expect them not to get something,” said Miller. “We’ve got to be better.”
The real trouble is that the Canucks couldn’t even win the minutes when McDavid and Draisaitl weren’t on the ice. That’s the key: if the Oilers are going to load up their top line, the Canucks have to make it costly for them to do so. They didn’t.
“With them loading up that line, we maybe need to capitalize on some chances elsewhere,” said Quinn Hughes.
There is a bright side: the Oilers treated this as a must-win game and put all of their eggs in one basket, playing McDavid and an injured Draisaitl massive minutes. And they only just barely won, squeaking out a victory with a lucky goal in overtime.
The Canucks know how to win on the road — they won all three road games in the first round — and now they’ve seen the best the Oilers have to offer. This series has only just begun.
“Listen: lose in overtime; beat them last game; we’re in this series,” said Tocchet.
Like the vast majority of the Oilers’ lineup for the vast majority of the night, I watched this game.
About The Author
Leave a Reply