It takes four wins to advance, but the Edmonton Oilers historically lose almost every Game 1. In their last 15 rounds, including Tuesday night, they’ve won only four series openers. Even in 2006, they only won one Game 1. If you include that Playoff run, just for laughs, the record is 5 Game 1 wins in 19 rounds. But what’s funny about this Game 1 win in Vegas is that they still needed to come from behind after going down 2-0 early. It was an impressive team comeback, starting the third period with a 2-1 disadvantage. Even when they’re not leading, they’re leading. In fact, the Oilers are now the first team in NHL history to record five straight comeback wins in the Playoffs. And remember, they even blew a 2-0 lead in Game 3 against LA to stage a comeback there as well. However, we’ve thought about this team on paper, it’s simply because the Oilers aren’t a normal hockey team that you can never count them out easily. Give Calvin Pickard credit for not losing focus when not facing a lot, as Edmonton started outplaying the Golden Knights. It’s a skillset for every goaltender to stay alert when you’re doing almost nothing.
Going up 2-0 would be nice, and we’ll obviously cheer for that. It’s just nice to have a better start for once, but this should be a 6 or 7 game series. Vegas isn’t going to roll over and die; expect a pushback tonight. The keys to the game are…
Edmonton Oilers Thoughts
Unsung Highlights: John Klingberg deserves to be credited with 2 assists for making long stretch passes out of his zone that helped set up 2 of Edmonton’s goals. Darnell Nurse made a solid poke check before Zach Hyman’s game-winning goal, and Evan Bouchard blocked a shot before Connor Brown’s breakaway insurance goal. I don’t usually like +/- as an individual stat, but Jake Walman being +9, especially after a first round series that saw 51 total goals scored, is astounding. Just because you don’t register a point doesn’t mean you aren’t contributing. Every responsible play, offensively or defensively, is valuable.
Just Shoot: Early in the first period, Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown went on one of their famous shorthanded 2v1 rushes. Janmark elected to pass the puck, even though Noah Hanifin had already taken away that option. Early in the third period, Evan Bouchard took a hard shot at the point that hit Mark Stone’s stick, flew over Adin Hill, and was then batted in the net by Leon Draisaitl. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Is He Back?: Make of this key what you will, Alex Pietrangelo didn’t play in Game 1. I have no idea what his status is, and I’m pretty bad with gameday lineups. The Golden Knights are still a deep team, but not having him is like our team not having Mattias Ekholm. The Golden Knights were already without Pavel Dorofeyev before that lineup change was announced. IF he’s playing tonight, it presents a bigger challenge for Edmonton’s offense.
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