Hurricanes vs. Oilers – The Recap

If there were two teams that are likely playoff bound that were ready to flip the calendar to March, it would be these two teams.  The Hurricanes, coming off a win against Buffalo, finished off the month of February with a 2-5-0 record.  Not to be outdone, the Edmonton Oilers were also struggling, losers of 5 straight and coming in with a 2-6-0 record. 

Heading into this one, I had a little concern that the Oilers would want to snag a win and come out a little desperate – like how the Hurricanes came out in the win over Buffalo.  I want to see some from our group consistency, as I have mentioned before, but I really would like to see a similar start to the game we did against Buffalo – hard forecheck, generate a net front presence and play with urgency.

Below are my thoughts on the game:

• Some good news early – it seems as though Rod has kept the same line combinations for this game as he did last game.  Maybe the organization is taking some notes from their up-and-coming favorite podcast.  Or perhaps that was the plan all along.  Frederik Andersen is manning the net.
• Within the first minute of the game, the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde Dimitri Orlov rears his ugly head.  He takes what I would consider to be a weak holding penalty.  The good news is that we were able to kill it off, but I can’t seem to get away from the fact that Orlov is such a rollercoaster these days in the way he plays.  For instance, later in the period he had a great body on an Oiler in front of the net to keep him from being able to do anything of substance.  After that, he and Aho had a break away on a 2-on-1 – he ended up with the puck and had an open shot available but instead decided to pass and Edmonton calmly poked it out of the zone.  In the second period, he was part of a great shift along the wall that ended up breaking out Jordan Martinook for a shot that clanged off the post.  I don’t know what to make of him – it’s like there are times he’s solid, and other times his decision making is questionable.  Not exactly sure what is happening or why with him. 
• The first period had not one, not two, but three power plays for us – and we finished that stretch 0-3.  The first two looked miserable – we were unable to set anything up in the offensive zone.  In fact, Edmonton scored a short-handed goal.  Burns lost position on Adam Henrique who was able to slam home a rebound.  All of that was started by a drop pass by Jackson Blake, who was expecting Jack Roslovic to be in that open zone – instead, an Edmonton Oiler was able to move it forward and the rest is history.  1-0 bad guys.  The third power play had a little more jump to it, but didn’t net a goal. 
• My notes include “this team looks lethargic” and “the passing isn’t as crisp as the other night”.  I am not sure what team this is, but it isn’t the one I was hoping to get this first period of the game.
• The Oilers defense, through two periods, were stifling.  The Hurricanes could not get anything through in relation to passes, the neutral zone was a mess and early on, they dominated offensive zone time and puck possession. 
• Mikko Rantanen had a great all-around game, having some good chances on the offensive end (including a tip in opportunity at the front of the net that just missed, a nice body play to maintain puck possession leading to a pass to Aho that was saved by Pickard, and a nifty forehand/backhand move on a play to the net that just missed).  I’ll go back to my previous blog about Mikko Rantanen (titled ‘Come As You Are’), the thing that encourages me about Mikko is the detailed game he is playing on the defensive end.  The 2-on-1 Orlov play that I reference above was all started by a steal by Rantanen in the defensive end.  A few shifts later in the game, he had a couple back checks in his own end.  Just a solid overall effort for Mikko.
• The Staal line has been all over it tonight.  For those curious, it was Martinook-Staal-Jarvis that took the opening face-off and for long stretches of this game were the top line in my eyes.  They worked hard down low to get pressure below the goal line.  In the second period, Martinook had our best chance, a point-blank shot from 5 feet away that clanked off the crossbar.  But none of that happens without the solid board work of Dimitri Orlov (referenced above) and Jordan Staal. 
• Jaccob Slavin had a vintage Slavin game – minus one play where McDavid showed exactly why he is the best player in the world.  It resulted in a Freddie Andersen save, but overall, Slavin (without filling up the stat sheet) has shown exactly why he’s the best defensive defenseman in the game. 
• It took until about the middle of the 2^nd period, but I felt as though we finally got to our game, stacking back-to-back shifts that were promising.  The message from Staal at the intermission interview was “just stick with it” – and I thought he was right.  His line and the Aho line have looked solid.  Both lines have looked really good – dragging the team into the fight.
• Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been doing a lot of the dirty work from the 2^nd period on.  He’s contributed a lot, although it would never show on the stat sheet.
• Freddie Andersen was great tonight.  We gave up two with him in net and neither were on him.  He also had plenty of high danger saves that he calmly brushed away – I was really impressed with how he handled his business in the crease.
• The scoring started for Edmonton with the short-handed goal referenced above and then was expanded on in the 2^nd period on a sick pass from Leon Draisaitl to Cory Perry who was parked at the left part of the net for a tap in.  Andersen, to his credit, tried to get over, but it was a pass with pace – Chatfield, who had a solid night overall, couldn’t get to Perry in time as they were in the middle of a line change.  2-0 bad guys.
• We totaled 4 power plays tonight – three in the first period (outlined above) and a fourth one in the 3^rd that found the back of the net.  It starts with winning the 50/50 puck battles along the boards and ends with an Aho pass to Rantanen who then feeds Aho on the backdoor to bury it.  Additionally, there was better motion and puck movement – by far our best power play in probably about a month.  Aho and Rantanen seem to be clicking some and so do Rantanen and Svechnikov.  2-1, but things are looking up for us.
• After our goal, their bump up shifts really showed urgency – and Hyman netted one, albeit with a kicking motion that ended up being waved off almost as soon as it happened. 

In the end, we got to a 6-on-5 before a Mikko Rantanen goalie interference penalty was called that nullified any potential momentum we were generating.  We had a breakaway during that penalty kill that Aho couldn’t find the back of the net on.  They buried an empty netter with 3 seconds left and it’s a 3-1 loss. 

All told, we started lethargic and really didn’t seem to get to our game until it was midway through the second period.  Part of that is on us, but part of that is on the Oilers too.  They made our lives miserable with their stick plays to steal pucks as we were attempting to gain entry and really kept pressure on us offensively in the 1^st period.  While we were able to claw back to 2-1 in the 3^rd period, it was the effort in the 1^st period that ultimately did us in.  Credit the Oilers for their hard work, but we do still have to come out and do the work.  Overall, a tightly contested game controlled by both goaltenders.  We had our chances, they had theirs and, as they say, you can’t go 82-0-0.  

Up next – a home date with the Calgary Flames.