Honestly, I was afraid this was going to be a blow-out. I’m still not happy with the loss, but a point takes the sting out of it a little as well as knowing we took the league’s best player to overtime. How’d it happen? Let’s dig in.
1st Period
Remember how I said the Wings needed to not hibernate after so much time off since the Anaheim game? I don’t think anyone on the team reads us…
It’s not that they looked COMPLETELY sluggish from the get-go. But the Oilers started with firing everything they could at the net and never looked back. Play was, really, back and forth but the Oilers somehow kept finding ways to turn their possession time into shots – to the tune of 16 for the period against the Wings’ 6.
Thank the Hockey Gods for Alex Lyon. He absolutely kept us in this period. His most consistent test came after Chiarot took a holding penalty with about 4-and-a-half left to play in the opening period. But the penalty kill stayed perfect as he saw 3 shots on goal and stopped them all. The Oilers would have another flurry of chances to end the period, but our Lyon King kept the scoresheet level at zeroes.
2nd Period
There was certainly more intensity this period, but the Oilers still managed to carry most of the play once things got going. To the Wings’ credit, they managed to hold the Oilers to 2 shots on goal thru about the first 10 minutes of the frame – until Ras and Nurse got into it and swapped roughing penalties. Larkin was able to draw a holding penalty about a minute after that, and it really felt like we might be able to take momentum. But every chance we took on that powerplay resulted in either a missed or blocked shot – NOTHING got thru to Pickard. It was clearly going to be One Of Those Nights.
Brett Kulak slashed Fischer about 30 seconds after, and we’d go on the powerplay again with absolutely nothing to show for it – the Oilers were even credited with more shot attempts than the Wings were (2 to 1). If a powerplay can be completely deflating, this one was.
As the period wound down, a flurry of chances with under 5 minutes left resulted in nothing but a slew of blocked shots by the Oilers. They have been finding ways to not only get into lanes, but be big in them and actually be in front of the puck – the commitment to do this by their forwards was noticeable.
With 2:15 left in the period, the Wings got caught not thinking and ended up with too many men on the ice (and the officials noticed it). Perron would serve the time, but the rest of the team stepped up big to prevent any shots getting thru to Lyon. The PK survived another test and the period came to a close, score still knotted at 0-0 despite the Wings getting absolutely shelled in the shot count (27-11 by this point).
3rd Period
Just as I was getting scared that the Wings would give the game away, they show some life. About 3:30 into the final frame, off of a missed stretch pass that found the Oilers’ zone, Copp retrieves a contested puck and somehow has room by the top face-off dot to pick his shot. He does, and makes the Oilers pay for it by getting a notch for the Red Wings on the scoresheet. The Oilers would challenge for goaltender interference, but video review would clearly show Pickard was not touched at all by a passing Fischer. The goal would stand AND McDavid would serve the 2:00. If there was a time to pounce and steal the game, this was it.
Not much would come of the man advantage until Kane caught a streaking Fabbri on a zone entry. Sneaking the puck thru traffic to Fabs, he sent one high past Pickard and started celebrating just a bit too soon – the puck had hit the crossbar and bounced out instead of finding twine. The entire sequence was a reminder that we were lucky to be up by 1 at this point in the game.
And then, about 4:00 later, the luck began to dry up. There really is no stopping Connor McDavid when he decides he’s going to drive your net and score. Off a play that was ALMOST off-side, McDavid absolutely walked Jeff Petry (son of famed Tigers pitcher Dan Petry) and blew by a turned-around Jake Walman. Lyon looked like he read the right shot attempt, only for McDavid to change direction last-minute and sneak the puck past his right leg for an equalizer. Watching him puck-handle on the attempt, the term “cheat code” comes to mind. This one was on the defense, not Lyon.
With only 10:00 left in regulation, we’re back to where we started with a tie on the scoresheet. But the Oilers are pressing, like they have all night, and continuing to drive play. The Oilers would get 7 shot attempts to our 2 before, at about the 14-minute mark, they managed to strike again.
Chaos in front of the net resulted in 3 Wings collapsing around Lyon, meaning the Oilers had guys open. Lyon managed well, especially with rebound control on some point-blank chances, but eventually the puck was dug out and sent to an open Zach Hyman in the slot. A quick shot found its way directly thru Chiarot’s legs and into the back of the net before anyone in red and white really knew where the puck was. It was the Oilers’ 40th shot of the night as they took the 2-1 lead.
The Wings showed one more sign of life though. In a centering attempt just above the goal line, Raymond’s pass hits a skate and bounces in on Pickard. The Edmonton goalie makes the stop, but the puck sat dead and uncovered about an inch away from counting. Thankfully for the Wings, Määttä was crashing the net and a fast and accurate poke-check on the puck earned him a spot on the scoresheet and the Wings another tie with 3:57 to play.
The rest of the period managed to close out without much in terms of high-danger chances by either side, and both teams would claim 1 point as overtime kicked off.
OT
The Wings started the period’s events with a Larkin shot that would go wide of Pickard, and then it all came undone. Off a zone exit and line-change by the Oilers, Zach Hyman absolutely walked right in thru Walman and Raymond. Lyon kept the attempt out of the net, and Raymond tried to blindly swat the puck out to Kane coming in from the bench. Unfortunately, Nurse had a few steps on him and intercepted the puck. Ripping a quick shot, he got it past Lyon to end the contest in the Oilers’ favor.
Takeaways
I can’t tell if the team was just outclassed by the pressure of McDavid and Draisaitl, or if it really was a sluggish effort. Maybe a bit of both? But these types of efforts have to stop. The Oilers would end the game with almost triple our shots on goal, officially totaled as 47-17. They had more shots on goal in the 3rd period alone than we had for the entire game. This team needs to find their zip, pep, drive, or whatever you want to call it to not just sit back reeling for an entire game.
Alex Lyon is our undisputed starter right now. A game like this could have easily ended up with 7 or 8 goals against in regulation. He allowed 2, and he’s not really even the person who allowed them. Whether he ends up an All Star or not, he’s our star goalie so far this season.
Next up is a visit from the Kings on the 13th, a Super Saturday with every team in action.
LGRW
