[GAME RECAP ] Oilers 8 (!!!), Coyotes 2.

Dec 8, 2022 - 5:09 AM

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The Edmonton Oilers (14-12-0) were back in action at Rogers Place on Wednesday night, as they played host to an Arizona Coyotes (7-12-4) outfit playing their 14th game of a 14 game (!!!) road trip. Stuart Skinner (7-6-0, 0.916) — Edmonton’s clear number one at this point — was back in goal for Edmonton, with Connor Ingram (1-5-1, 0.882) in the crease for the Coyotes.

I’m not sure who he is, either.

First Period

The first couple of shits were pretty uneventful until the Oilers drew the game’s first penalty through a Patrik Nemeth hook on Zach Hyman — who drew back in after missing Monday night’s game. About 40 seconds into the power play, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave the Oilers the lead with a lovely snipe through a Hyman screen from just above the far faceoff dot.

1-0. LFG.

From there, it was more of the same. The two teams traded half chances every so often, but it wasn’t anything you’d light up your group chat(s) about.

A few minutes later, Edmonton drew another penalty through a Juuso Valimaki hold on Dylan Holloway. They looked likely throughout, and threw a bunch of pucks toward Ingram in the Arizona net, but couldn’t break through for a second goal and Arizona was able to successfully kill it off.

The 5v5 game really was kind of boring in the first period. Hyman did have to intervene on a half-decent cross-crease chance for the Coyotes, but that was about the closest either side came to a goal. Until Derek Ryan hopped over the boards.

Klim Kostin — who I’ve taken to calling Klim Shady, for obvious reasons — tried to dump the puck in as Ryan was crossing the OZ blue. The puck hit him, then fell extremely generously for him, and he was able to gather it, make a nifty move, and beat Ingram.

2-0. LFG.

With less than 2 minutes remaining in the first period, Cody Ceci took a hooking penalty along the near wall. Edmonton’s much, and deservedly, maligned PK was able to kill off the first ~80 seconds or so before Lawson Crouse took an interference penalty on Kailer Yamamoto to negate the rest.

Neither team could capitalize on the 4v4 time before the intermission.

2-0 after 20 minutes. 14-6 on the SOG clock.

Second Period

Edmonton had a few seconds of 4v4 left to navigate before returning to the power play. They threatened with the man advantage, but ultimately couldn’t find some more insurance despite generating a couple of good looks.

It was pretty much one-way traffic for the next few shifts, with Arizona offering very little to any of Edmonton’s lines. At one point, Clayton Keller was sprung 1v1 against Ceci and was able to get a decent shot away, but Skinner blocked it aside with ease. That was about it for bright spots for the visitors, who were almost certainly absolutely exhausted after spending basically the last month on the road.

Edmonton’s 5v5 superiority yielded another power play after Connor McDavid drew a hooking penalty after some tenacious work on the forecheck. On said power play, McDavid made this pass to Leon Draisaitl:

3-0. LFG.

Arizona found a bit of stability — that, or Edmonton eased off a little bit — after the third goal, and eventually found some footing in the game:

3-1.

But then, 23 seconds later, Nugent-Hopkins got the goal against right back. Kailer Yamamoto made a nice play to turn the puck over just inside the Arizona blue line and spring Nugent-Hopkins on a breakaway. He made no mistake in close and beat Ingram clean:

4-1. LFG.

Arizona tried to get something going after the goal, but the best they could offer was a Nick Schmaltz breakaway that he both cheated for and shot well wide. And then Edmonton got another, just because they could:

5-1. LFG.

Edmonton saw out the remainder of the period without further bludgeoning their guests.

5-1 after 40. SOGs 30-10 for.

Third Period

I mean. It was over. Sure, there was time left, but it was over.

But nobody told Klim Shady:

6-1. LFG.

Or Connor McDavid, featuring an all-universe pass from Leon Draisaitl:

7-1. LFG.

Barrett Hayton snuck through for a semi-breakaway at near the halfway point of the period, but Evan Bouchard recovered well enough to bother and Stuart Skinner stood tall. That was it as far as Arizona offense. I think they managed a few more shots in the last ~8 minutes or so, but by that point I was well beyond caring about the minutia of this game. I guess now we know what would happen if an NHL team with the best player in the world played an AHL team playing its 14th road game in a r—

8-1. LFG.

With just over 5 minutes remaining, Shayne Gostisbehere — a defenseman, last I checked — tipped one by Skinner:

8-2.

Devin Shore took a penalty for holding the stick with 3:49 remaining in the offensive zone in an absolute laugher. Annoying. Useless. What a dumb thing.

Taking that penalty was dumb, too. Edmonton killed it off, though, so. There’s that.

The last 2 minutes went by without incident. Neither injury nor scoring event. Kailer Yamamoto had a breakaway chance but kind of lost control and couldn’t fully recover.

Zack Kassian — in his first game back in Edmonton — dropped the gloves with about a minute remaining with Kostin, in the process doing a better Zack Kassian tribute than the Oilers ever could through being a useless asshole at the end of a useless game.

Edmonton enjoyed a brief PP to finish the game, but they didn’t even really try to score.

8-2. Final. SOGs were 35-18 Edmonton.

Unwanted Opinion

After reading Jesse Puljujarvi’s comments in this latest hatchet job from Mark Spector, I’m so sad for him. And I’m so curious as to how a player can be so without support that he’s giving an interview like that to the press back home.

Ooooo, Fancy

Courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Up Next

The first game of a home-and-home with the Minnesota Wild goes on Friday night in Edmonton. 7PM MST.