It is the new way.
Hockey isn’t judged on goals anymore, or even hits and (God forbid) fights. As we were reminded on a Saturday night in Edmonton, a well-played game can have very little of the kind of overt excitement that networks build highlight packages around, and still be considered high pedigree.
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That’s what we got on Hockey Night in Canada at Rogers Place, as Edmonton beat Calgary 2-1 in a shootout. It was played the way you might expect to a game to be played in April or May, but one that left this reporter a tad wanting for a Jan. 14 grudge match between two provincial rivals.
“I thought our forwards did a great job of getting above pucks and really frustrating them,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano. “And, when they did get it in, we tried to play in packs of five and cut the ice in half, and get them hemmed in the corners.”
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“I thought it was real competitive for body position,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “The two- or three-stride races. Getting inside. The play around the net and loose pucks… There was a lot of physicality that way. It wasn’t your traditional rock ‘em sock ‘em hockey, but it was a competitive, hard night.”
Call me a philistine, but in the Battle of Alberta I was brought up with, if you didn’t get goals you got hits. And if you didn’t get either of those, fans would have a couple of scraps to rally around.
Even earlier this season the teams combined for 19 goals in a pair of Edmonton wins. But on Saturday, staying above the puck and winning the three-stride race became the necessary traits of a winning team.
“Boring?” offered Oilers centre Mark Letestu. No, that wasn’t the right word.
“Detailed,” he settled on. “Tightly checked, and when stuff did break down, guys were really desperate to get in lanes and limit opportunities. Yeah, it probably wasn’t the greatest game to watch and didn’t give the fans a lot to get off their seat about but winning these games… I’d rather win boring than lose exciting, so I’ll take these two points.”
Truer words have seldom been spoken.
In Calgary’s room, the players and coach Glen Gulutzan loved their game. Truly they did, because it was a game plan delivered to near perfection.
Calgary certainly forced more highlight saves out of Cam Talbot than the Oilers did of Brian Elliott, as well as ringing a couple pucks off the iron behind the Oilers netminder.
Pat Maroon scored his 18th for Edmonton — his ninth goal in his past 10 games – while Sean Monahan (12th) evened the count just 26 seconds later in the middle frame. The rest was like a coach’s video, two teams executing perfect puck retrieval, accurate breakouts, and stunning dump-ins.
The extra point gives Edmonton a four-point bulge over Calgary in the Pacific, and marks the third straight win over the Flames this season. In a rivalry that has been absolutely owned by Calgary over the past number of years, turning the worm against the Flames is yet another sign that this Oilers team is finally moving on from its Decade of Darkness.
It was the seventh overtime journey in the past 13 games for Edmonton. As for the Flames, they’ve now lost two straight for the first time in a month.
They’ll meet again next Saturday night at the Saddledome. We can only hope the coaches sleep through their alarms, and a hint of what once was creeps into the game.
