Sports
Edmonton Oilers rewarded for patient game with a 3-2 OT win in Detroit, win 9 straight
The Edmonton Oilers dominated the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, out shooting the wings 47-17 in a patient performance. The only things that kept the Red Wings in this one was luck, some favorable calls (and non-calls) and the superlative goaltending of Detroit’s Alex Lyon. Lyon was quite righty awarded the game’s 1st Star.
The NHL apparently had no recourse for Darnell Nurse’s OT winner.
Here is the tale of the tape…
CALVIN PICKARD. 7. Sharp early save on Fischer and then batted the rebound away himself. Good stop in close on Larkin a couple shifts later. Then after a long stretch with no shots steered aside a Kane shot with his stick at the 2nd of the 1st Frame. Cleaned up a bouncing puck that had eaten up Darnell Nurse with a high blocker save. A fine stop on Fisher. Double stops on Raymond to start the 3rd. Beaten on the 1-0 by a point shot which featured a clip of his glove in front which the NHL did not see fit to rule as Goalie Interference. Got a glove on a shot that subsequently rang off both posts and out. It would have been 2-0 Detroit at that juncture. Unlucky on the 2-2, a wild deflection off Nurse’s shin. You will take this from your organizational #3 netminder every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS. 7. Solid work on the wall which led to an excellent Hyman chance in the 1st. Very nearly batted home a deflection after a hard play by Hyman behind the goal line. Helped win a critical zone clear on the PK after the failed Coach’s Challenge. Won a battle in front that enabled him to putt a pass back to Hyman for the 2-1. Fine work on the PK. +3. Playing some of his very best hockey.
ZACH HYMAN. 8. On a major-league roll. Rang a crossbar part way through the 1st Period. A head’s-up interception negated a Detroit attack. A dangerous chance late in the 1st after a McDavid feed. A poke check disrupted his charge to the net after a fine 3-way passing play. Helped create a close-in chance for Nugent-Hopkins late in the 2nd. Hammered home a Nugent-Hopkins pass for the 2-1. Primary assist on the OT winner. +3. 5v5 CF 34-15, 69%. Hard to imagine him not being an NHL All Star.
CODY CECI. 6. A season high 3 1st Period shots. Excellent close on DeBrincat on a 2nd Period PK. Solid.
LEON DRAISAITL. 6. 1st Period shot block. Turn-around shot on a 1st Period PP plus a hard back-check to disrupt a Detroit short-handed chance. Could not quite convert a good Foegele pass in the 2nd. Intercepted an errant Larkin pass and nearly drained it 5-hole. A slick backhand pass to 97 who could not cash. In on a 3-way play that Foegele could not drain. A shift later, a phenomenal backhand pass that Foegele also could not finish. 3 shots. No points but a going concern for Detroit all game long. 80% on draws.
WARREN FOEGELE. 6. A bunch of demanding work along the walls in the 1st. A fine feed to Draisaitl early in the 2nd who just missed converting. 3rd Period shot at the end of a 3-way play with Draisaitl and McLeod. Could not drain a Draisaitl back-hand feed either. Good PK work.
MATTIAS EKHOLM. 8. A tower of power. Good shot block in the 1st. A double-clear on a 2nd Period PK. His hard shot nearly converted into the 1-0 on a baseball-like swing by Nugent-Hopkins. A major force in front on the 2-1 goal, a major reason that goal was scored and a well-deserved assist for his efforts. A hit and 4 shots in a team leading 24:13. And he consistently put put one Detroit spark after another. High Dangers 5v5 7-0 with him on the ice!
EVAN BOUCHARD. 4. Bouchard has taken a major step forward this season but was a turnover machine tonight. 1st Period shot. A turnover in the 1st and two more early in the 2nd. Then took an ill-advised holding penalty but his mates killed that off. Set up McDavid for a late 2nd Period look. Another turnover on the PP but recovered with a desperate stick. Another turnover in the 3rd. A hard finish on Copp in his own zone. The Fancy Stats made him look way better than he in reality was.
EVANDER KANE. 4. 1st Period hit. Excellent back check early in the 2nd on Seider. He and Ryan lost a puck battle on the wall leading to the 1-0. Appeared to have won the game late but the goal was called back for a hand pass. -2. Had his moments in this one but not quite back to his usual level, yet.
MATTIAS JANMARK. 5. A high shot gave the goalie trouble in the back half of the 1st. A hard play in the Detroit zone drew an Oilers Power Play. Solid & reliable.
VINCENT DESHARNAIS. 7. Sent a shot-pass into the high slot which Derek Ryan very nearly deflected home. A terrific PK shift in the 2nd with 2 interceptions and a shot block in the same shift. High Dangers 2-0 5v5. He was very good.
JAMES HAMBLIN. 4. Important shot block in the 1st, then same shift stole a puck which Janmark concerted into a good chance. Went pretty quiet after that. But in fairness, he did not see a lot of ice, either.
CONNOR BROWN. 4. Managed a close in shot on the PP in the 1st. Gave up way too much gap up top on the 1-0. Good on the PK. Otherwise, rarely seems “involved”. -2.
ADAM ERNE. 5. Punched a puck through coverage which Ceci managed to direct on net. 2nd Period hit. Solid zone clear deep into the 3rd.
Edmonton is 17-3-0 in their last 20, and sit at 22-15-1, 45 points…good for the first wildcard position in the West and a mere 3 points back of L.A. for 3rd in the Pacific.
The Oilers are in Montreal Saturday.
Find me on Threads @kleavins, on Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social, and X @KurtLeavins.
CALGARY – Ryan Lomberg and Brayden Pachal each had a goal and assist on Saturday night to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in NHL pre-season action.
Blake Coleman and Adam Klapka also scored for Calgary, which is 4-0-1 through five games.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Aatu Ratyu were the marksmen for Vancouver, which is 2-2 in exhibition play.
Dan Vladar, who stopped 17 of 19 shots in 40 minutes of action, got the win. Devin Cooley made nine stops in relief.
Artus Silovs, beaten four times on 24 shots, gave way to Nikita Tolopilo to start the third. Tolopilo had eight saves.
Calgary opened the scoring at 4:23 when Pachal’s rising wrist shot from the blue line through a maze of bodies eluded Silovs, who never saw it.
The Flames surged in front 2-0 three minutes later when Lomberg corralled a MacKenzie Weegar rebound in the slot and fired a shot just inside the goalpost.
Lomberg, 29, who broke into the NHL as a Flame in 2017-18, re-signed in the off-season in Calgary as a free agent after four years with the Florida Panthers, which was capped off by winning the Stanley Cup.
Vancouver got on the scoreboard at 8:35 of the second on a fortuitous bounce.
Lekkerimaki’s shot from the slot deflected off Flames defenceman Artem Grushnikov, went high into the air, and with seemingly nobody aware of where the puck went, it toppled over Vladar and landed in the Calgary net.
Since being drafted by Vancouver in the first round, in 2022, Lekkerimaki has spent the past two seasons in his native Sweden.
This will be the 20-year-old’s first season in North America and with three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in three games in the pre-season, he’s making a push for a job with the Canucks.
One of the players he is competing against is Raty, who after Calgary had taken a 3-1 lead, again got the Canucks back within one on a perfect shot after being set up on a 2-on-1 by Conor Garland.
Raty, a second-round pick in 2021, was acquired from the New York Islanders in the Bo Horvat trade. He’s spent most of the past two seasons in the AHL.
The Flames restored their two-goal cushion later in the second with Klapka firing a shot past Silovs for his third goal in as many pre-season games.
Klapka, who stands 6-foot-8, is looking to make the team’s fourth line. The 24-year-old has shown some offensive pop with three goals in as many pre-season games.
His physicality was also on display Saturday, throwing an open-ice hit in the first period on Nils Aman that sent the Canucks forward flying. In the third, a heavy hit on Akito Hirose send the defenceman careening into the sideboards. Hirose had to be helped off the ice.
UNEXPECTED OFFENCE
Known more for his physicality, Pachal has never had a multi-point game in his 62 career NHL regular-season games. The 24-year-old was in his fifth season with the Vegas Golden Knights organization when he was claimed off waivers by Calgary last February.
HUBERDEAU-MANTHA COMBO
Left-winger Jonathan Huberdeau played in his second pre-season game for Calgary and has been the case throughout camp, the right-winger was veteran Anthony Mantha, who the Flames signed to a one-year deal as a free agent. On this night, Yegor Sharangovich was at centre. In the first game, the two were centred by Martin Pospisil.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Flames: Host the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
EDMONTON – When the key to a win is work ethic, it is not surprising to see Mattias Ekholm rise to the occasion.
Ekholm had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a three-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Noah Philp, Vasily Podkolzin and Raphael Lavoie also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 2-3 in NHL pre-season play.
“They are a hard-working team, no matter who they have in the lineup, so we expected that,” said Oilers forward Derek Ryan, who picked up a couple of assists.
“There were points in the game where we were kind of matching that intensity and work ethic and things were going well for us. We let the work ethic dip a little bit and then the game gets away from us. It is a good message to the guys who were playing and the whole group that it starts with work.”
Jacob Melanson, Eduard Sale, John Hayden and Ben Meyers responded for the Kraken, who fell to 1-3 in exhibition action.
“I thought we were getting up the ice well, playing fast, playing north,” said Meyers. “I think we probably just gave up a little bit too much to win that game, but I thought offensively we played pretty well and we had our chance.”
The Oilers started the scoring just over three minutes into the opening period as both defenders tried to cover Connor McDavid on a two-on-one, but he made a nice backhand pass back to Nugent-Hopkins, who beat Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer upstairs blocker side.
Seattle tied the game nine minutes into the first after Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard made a couple of saves in tight before Melanson was able to poke it in from the crease.
Pickard left the game soon afterwards after teammate Noah Philp got angled into his own netminder, hitting him in the head. Pickard did not return to the game.
Olivier Rodrigue replaced Pickard in the Edmonton net and surrendered a power-play goal with six minutes to play in the first as Ryan Winterton lifted a deft pass over a defender across to Sale for the goal.
Edmonton knotted the game with 2:43 remaining in the first frame as Ekholm spotted Philp driving the net and completed a long saucer pass through a couple Kraken players to allow him to wrist it home.
Seattle made it 3-2 5:32 into the second period after Rodrigue attempted to direct a puck away from the net, only to have it hit Hayden and carom into his net.
With two minutes left in the middle period, the Kraken added to their lead as Meyers elected to shoot on a two-on-one opportunity, beating the Oilers’ goalie upstairs.
Edmonton got that goal back just 26 seconds later as Derek Ryan threaded the needle to a trailing Ekholm and he beat Grubauer to make it 4-3.
The Oilers tied the game six minutes into the third on a short-handed tally as Ryan made a great play to draw the defenders his way before sending it over to Podkolzin for the easy tap-in.
Edmonton avoided overtime with 2:53 remaining in the final frame as Lavoie battled hard to retrieve the puck before swinging out front and sending a shot through Grubauer’s legs.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has been impressed with Lavoie’s skills as a sniper.
“He’s got good hands and an even better shot,” he said. “He showed great skill on that goal.”
NOTES
The Oilers still had 41 players in camp — with four goalies, 13 defencemen and 24 forwards. … Seattle was down to 37 players at camp — 33 skaters and four goalies — after cutting eight players before Friday’s contest against Vancouver. … Edmonton had both of the players in camp who are on PTOs in the lineup on Saturday, forward Mike Hoffman and defenceman Travis Dermott. … Grubauer made his first appearance since last Sunday’s 6-1 loss to Calgary, during which he allowed four goals on 19 shots.
UP NEXT
Kraken: Visit the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO (AP) — Jonathan Dean scored his first Major League Soccer goal in the 84th minute for the Chicago Fire on Saturday night in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC.
Ariel Lassiter cut back to evade a defender and the played an arcing ball from the left corner of the area to the back post, where a charging Dean tapped in a one-touch finish from point-blank range to cap the scoring.
Prince Owusu converted from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time to give Toronto (11-17-4) a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Chicago (7-16-9) has just one win and four losses in its last six games.
Chris Brady a save for the Fire.
Sean Johnson stopped two shots for Toronto.
—
AP MLS:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Flames remain hot in pre-season, beat Canucks 4-2
Hajrullahu kicks record-tying eight FGs to lead Argos past Alouettes 37-31
Oilers end pre-season skid with 5-4 win over Kraken
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