EDMONTON — How long are the Edmonton Oilers going to be a one-man team?
Like, seriously. How do you expect to succeed when one guy has to carry you every night?
It was another night and another one-man show, as the Oilers came from behind three separate times to beat the Boston Bruins, thanks to a fabulous assist and the insurance goal from, wait for it …
Ceci walked in off the blue-line midway through the third period of a 3-3 game, head up, and found Leon Draisaitl in the low slot with a lovely tape-to-tape pass for the game-winning goal. Then he buried his first as an Oiler, putting the game away when he scored to make it 5-3 with 2:19 to play.
“Probably not the prettiest guy to watch, but he’s so effective and good at what he does,” said Draisaitl, who wasn’t bad himself on another three-point night to hold on to the NHL lead in scoring (12-14-26 in 12 games). “For guys like that, who work so hard and do the things that don’t get noticed all the time, it’s especially nice for him to get a goal, and make a huge play on the game winner.
“He’s not all D-zone and hard to play against. There’s some skill there too.”
Unfortunately, Ceci could not take part in the post-game lovefest after he took a puck to the ear late in the game. But after halting their losing streak at one game and pulling off a character win in a building that has not been kind to this franchise in recent years, it was a team win that the Oilers were most happy to talk about.
“We’ve had a lot of team success, and in order to have that you have to have everyone contributing,” said Zach Hyman, who scored his eighth goal in 12 games, as Edmonton rolls to 10-2 atop the Western Conference. “That’s how you build a great team, when everyone feels good about their role, knows what their role is, and excels in that role. You need good players throughout our lineup to win games. Especially tonight.”
“(Duncan) Keith and Ceci put a lot of hard minutes in,” head coach Dave Tippett said. “It’s great to see them get rewarded for their work (three points, plus-2 combined). (Colton) Sceviour, (Ryan) McLeod and (Warren) Foegele … hopefully we don’t need five goals every night to win, but we’ll take the win and go to Buffalo.”
Ceci is the kind of guy the dressing room cheers for. That foot soldier who gets the odd day in the sun.
“They’re the guys they don’t get a lot of accolades, but they put in a lot of work,” Tippett said. “Guys like that, they help you win. That (Ceci-Keith) pair was really strong for us. Ceci took a puck in the ear, scored a goal, had an assist. … He did a lot for us.”
Swallowing the Whistle
Another night, another inexplicable non-call on Connor McDavid, as Derek Forbort jammed his stick between McDavid’s feet when the Oilers captain approached the net. McDavid went down on a classic can-opener, the kind of call we see every night in the NHL, from coast to coast.
But not Thursday night in Boston, where for some reason neither referee was in position in the endzone to make what has truly become a routine call in today’s game.
“You saw that upstairs?” Tippett sarcastically asked the media in Boston. “I saw that on the bench too. Didn’t know if anyone else saw it.”
“It is frustrating,” he continued, “because the tone is set on the first call of the game on Draisaitl. That shouldn’t have been a call, but it was, and that should have been the standard for the game, but it wasn’t upheld throughout the game.”
McDavid looked for the call immediately, then went about his business. The fact McDavid ranks 33rd in the NHL in penalties drawn (according to Natural Stat Trick) speaks for itself.
And it had better because the Oilers players aren’t going to speak about it, no matter how ridiculous it may seem that 32 NHL players have received more calls than the best, fastest and most elusive player in the game.
Draisaitl says the best strategy is to simply play on.
“You have to. You don’t have a choice,” he said. “You can complain a little bit, but if it’s not called it’s not called. You just have to continue to play, and draw the next one.”
“Nothing you can do,” agreed Hyman. “You keep going, Go out on your next shift, and eventually they’ll get called.”
Smith Returns — to Edmonton
Mike Smith has left the team, as the worst fears of having a 39-year-old starter are starting to play out in Edmonton.
A seemingly minor injury that has kept him out for three weeks has derailed Smith even further, as he hopped a plane home on Wednesday.
“He left to go back to Edmonton,” Tippett revealed after Thursday’s morning skate. “He had a setback in practice. He went back to get some further evaluation in Edmonton. It’ll be Koskinen and Skinner for the time being.”
Young goalies get hurt too, we know that. But at 39, it was a risk to sign Smith to a two-year deal in the off-season.
Softening the blow has been Mikko Koskinen’s play. He is 8-1 this season with a .918 saves percentage and 2.59 GAA.
Also, if there is a silver lining to Smith’s status, it’s that we will get to see more of the organization’s No. 3, local boy Stuart Skinner. He’ll very likely start Friday night in Buffalo.
“He was solid,” Tippett said of Skinner’s debut in Detroit on Tuesday, “One puck play mistake. … You hate to see it happen, but you like to see him get it out of the way early. Now he doesn’t have to worry about that first one coming. It was a mistake, he recognized it but he got right back in and played the puck after that.
“No problem putting him back in a game.”
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