Edmonton Oilers even up series with Chicago Blackhawks
The Edmonton Oilers came out strong with a much better effort in Game 2 to tie up their series with the Chicago Blackhawks.
After a very disappointing game one, the Edmonton Oilers turned things around in a big way and won game two convincingly over the Chicago Blackhawks by a final score of 6-3.
Connor McDavid let the way with a hattrick, but there were plenty of other reasons the Oilers were successful in this game as well.
Goaltending
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Oilers head coach Dave Tippett has done a great job with his new team this season, however, he made a questionable decision in Game 1, deciding to go with Mike Smith in net over Mikko Koskinen.
While this didn’t come as a major surprise given the fact Tippett has seen Smith perform at high levels during their time together with the Arizona Coyotes, it was the wrong decision.
Koskinen, whose numbers were far superior this regular season, gave the Oilers a chance to win Monday, something that can’t be said about Smith’s game one performance.
He stopped 23 of 26 shots, which included two breakaways on Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews and superstar Patrick Kane. He was easily the best goalie on the ice Monday night and will certainly get the game three start.
On the other end, Crawford allowed six goals on 35 shots. He did a good job on keeping the Blackhawks in the game through the first two periods with a number of good saves, but his team won’t be able to win any games when he is allowing that many.
Crawford has now let in 10 goals in the first two games. While this may be due to the rust as he was forced to miss the majority of training camp, he will need to figure it out soon or his team could be in trouble.
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Special Teams
The Oilers, who picked things up defensively big-time under Tippett during the 2019-20 season, looked like the Oilers from a few seasons ago with their defensive play in Saturday nights loss. A majority of the goals against that evening were a result of poor penalty killing and missed assignments, which was uncharacteristic for this group.
That was much different Monday night, as they were able to hold the Blackhawks to just 26 shots and showed why they had the second-best penalty kill in the NHL this season. They were able to kill all four penalties they took, including three in a row during the second period.
The Blackhawks, on the other hand, killed four of five penalties against. While that is quite impressive against an Oilers team who set an NHL record for the best powerplay percentage ever in a season, it certainly is not something they should look to continue testing.
This Oilers powerplay is capable of going off at any minute, and if the Blackhawks want a chance to win this series they need to stay out of the box.
Secondary Scoring
In Game 1, players like Dominik Kubalik and Jonathan Toews led the way. However, the Oilers forwards won the battle in game two. As mentioned above, McDavid led the way with a hat-trick, however, Nugent-Hopkins was also great, putting up three assists. Secondary scoring was there as well, as James Neal, Alex Chiasson, and Tyler Ennis also added goals.
The one disappointment was Leon Draisaitl, who looked disengaged for the entirety of the game. Despite having three points in game one, he was still not anywhere near his best. If he is able to pick his play up, look out.
Going Forward
While the Oilers wouldn’t have been eliminated if they lost this game, it certainly felt like a must win. Going down two games to none in a best of five series feels like a nearly impossible feat to come back from. Instead, they were able to even the series, making it come down to a best of three. While it is easy to think the Oilers should now be able to close this out, the Blackhawks played extremely well in game one and are capable of advancing.
In order for them to do so, they will need Crawford to step his play up. The two-time Stanley Cup winner has proven how good he can be in the postseason in the past, and his team needs him to be that goalie again. They will also need to limit the team’s secondary scoring. Stopping McDavid has become almost impossible for any team in the league, so the next best thing is stopping everybody else. This worked in game one, as the Oilers lost despite four points from their captain.
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For the Oilers, they need to continue what they did last night. Koskinen does not need to be outstanding, he just simply has to give his team a chance to win. This team is capable of putting up big numbers on offense, so as long as he is able to keep the majority of his shots against out of the net, it should be enough.