The Oilers welcomed the Seattle Kraken to Rogers Place for Edmonton’s fifth of eight pre-season games as we inch toward opening night on October 9th. The good news is that they won the game by a 5-4 final score. The bad news is that Calvin Pickard left the game after a collision in the crease just past the midway point of the first period.
When I wrote the game preview for Saturday’s matchup between the Oilers and Kraken, the central theme was centred around everyone making it through healthy. That article was posted at 11:15 AM, hours before Patrik Laine took a knee-on-knee hit that will likely put him on the shelf for weeks or longer. It was the exact kind of play that makes me nervous about mixing NHL regulars with AHL hopefuls, and I couldn’t help but feel for the guy that he suffered such an intense-looking injury in a meaningless tune-up game.
I know Laine’s injury has nothing to do with what happened between the Oilers and Kraken, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it every time Connor McDavid rushed the puck up the ice. I was almost expecting something to go wrong. I could feel it, you know? And while the big dogs up front were able to make it through the night without issue, the same cannot be said for Calvin Pickard, who left the game in clear discomfort in the first period after a collision with his teammate.
When Pickard didn’t come back to the bench for the start of the second period, all I could think about was what Bowman and Co. has for a Plan B if he’s out for any length of time. When you look at the replay of the incident, you wonder whether his head hit the crossbar as he was falling backwards? It’s obviously impossible to know what exactly happened or how long Pickard could be out until the Oilers say something, but I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that this is the last thing the team needs right now.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING…
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring (1-0) on a snipe from the slot early in the first period after McDavid rushed into the Seattle zone and found RNH with all kinds of time and space to pick his spot.
- Jacob Melanson tied the game up (1-1) on a scrambled play after a whiff by Bouchard near the crease allowed for some chaos to ensue, leaving the Kraken forward to whack away at the loose puck until eventually knocking it home.
- Eduard Sale gave Seattle the lead (2-1) on the power play after he was the business end of a beautiful crease-front passing play by Ryan Winterton. Not much the goaltender can do on that one.
- I will be continuing my pre-season love fest for Noah Philp until every last one of you is on board with it, because the goal he scored (2-2) late in the first period was a beauty. I very much appreciate his ability to make plays with the puck, even as we’re starting to get more NHLers in the lineup, and the in-tight goal he scored was a perfect example. He will play NHL games this season, and I plan on sharing this theory with anyone who will listen.
- John Hayden restored the Kraken’s lead (3-2) on a lucky bounce after Rodrigue kicked Brandon Tanev’s centring pass right into him. I’m sure the goalie would have liked to make a better play on the puck, but even so, it was some tough luck against that the puck found its way in like that.
- Ben Meyers extended the Kraken lead (4-2) after rushing the puck into the Oilers’ zone on a 2-on-1, keeping, and firing it pass Rodrigue low on the glove-hand side. Nice patience by Meyers left the passing option open while also giving him a clean look to shoot.
- Mattias Ekholm cut Seattle’s lead in half (4-3) on a quick shot that beat Grubauer high on the stick side after Derek Ryan found him trailing the play near the top of the circle. The goal was a great shot by Ekholm, but maybe even a better pass by Ryan.
- Vasily Podkolzin tied the game at four apiece (4-4) with a shorthanded tap-in after Derek Ryan made a pretty, patient play wth the puck in the offensive zone, setting his new teammate up with one of the easiest goals he’ll ever score. Podkolzin has worked his way into a bunch of quality scoring chances so far this pre-season, and I was happy to see him finally get rewarded for his efforts because he could easily have three or four by now.
- Raphael Lavoie picked up what ended up being the game winning goal (5-4) on a beautiful individual play that saw him carve through a few Seattle defenders before sinking his shot through Grubauer’s five-hole for the goal. I had been waiting all pre-season for a play like that from Lavoie because I still believe he’s got the tools to make a real run at stealing someone’s job.
- Calvin Pickard got bulled over by Noah Philp after Yanni Gourde push him on a back check at 11:58 of the first period, and the collision was enough to force him from the game. Olivier Rodrigue took over the crease for the remainder of the evening, and now the wait will be on to see when we get an update on whatever happened to Pickard. Either way, he’s supposed to be Edmonton’s backup this year, and having him on the shelf for any length of time becomes an obvious problem.
- Really nice game by Derek Ryan, who picked up a pair of primary assists on two big situational goals. The assist he registered on Ekholm’s goal, in particular, was a nice display of vision and touch.
- I thought Mike Hoffman would be more noticeable on this PTO because he’s clearly fighting for his career, but he’s been really quiet to this point. Even with the assist on Lavoie’s game winner, Hoffman will need to pick it up if he wants to earn a contract somewhere.
- Edmonton went 0/4 on the power play while also allowing one goal on five shorthanded situations the faced.
- Yes, I’m going to tell you that the Oilers won 62.3% of the faceoffs. Just because it’s the pre-season, I still need you to know how Edmonton performed on the dot.
