September 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers Rookies scraped out a tight 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets Rookies on Friday. James Hamblin scored the winner with 2:38 to play. I’ve chosen my three stars for the Oilers from tonight’s game.

I want to give an honourable mention to a few players here. I thought that Dino Kambeitz and Cole Dubinsky had excellent games. They were in the offensive zone pretty much all night, and they did great work protecting pucks along the wall and using their speed to win races to pucks. I thought Noah Philp was positionally sound and he made simple plays with the puck. He almost scored on a breakaway as well.

Having said that, here are the three stars for the Oilers Rookies from tonight’s game against the Jets Rookies:

3. Darien Kielb – Kielb opened the scoring for the Oilers on the powerplay on a sweet cross crease feed from Carter Savoie. Kielb made his presence known with his smooth stickhandling and good decision making with the puck. He has a penchant for knowing when to jump into the play from the back end. He put up six points in seven games for Bakersfield last season. This was a strong early showing from a guy that’s battling for a spot on the Condors.

2. Xavier Bourgault – Though James Hamblin scored the game-winning goal tonight, Bourgault made it happen. Bourgault won a race to prevent an icing call, then he stripped the puck off Cole Perfetti in front of the net. That led to a goalmouth scramble where Hamblin was able to finish. Bourgault fed Dylan Holloway for a dangerous one-timer chance in the third period. The 19-year-old just missed the top corner on a backhand chance in the third period. He also made several touch passes to get the Oilers out of their own zone and headed the other way with control. The 22nd overall pick in 2021 took a bad penalty right at the end of the game, but he was impressive otherwise.

1. Michael Kesselring – In my preview of the 2022 Young Stars Classic, I commented that I thought Kesselring’s foot speed would be an issue after watching him at a development camp shortly after he was drafted. I stand corrected. Speed wasn’t an issue for him in this game. His skating was smooth and he transported the puck with poise. Kesselring scored a somewhat lucky goal on a deflection by a Jets player, but he made a great play to jump into the rush and he saw Holloway going to the net. The 22-year-old displayed solid physicality in his own zone. He made an impact all over the ice and logged big minutes.

Dylan Holloway had two assists, but I felt that he left a bit to be desired tonight. He made sloppy plays with the puck in his own zone early in the game and I didn’t see him use his speed much until the third period. Holloway elevated his game in the third period and set up the game winner.

Philip Broberg had a middling game tonight. He showed some flashes on a couple of chances where he jumped into the play from the back end, but he didn’t do anything special. Broberg flat out whiffed on a glorious chance in the slot off a broken play in the first period. One little play that I noticed was when he waited a little bit too long to dump the puck in and he gave the puck away at the offensive blueline instead of getting it deep and giving his forwards a chance to go get it. Those little details will come for Broberg. The 21-year-old didn’t make many mistakes in his own zone, which is promising.

The Oilers Rookies will face off against the Calgary Flames Rookies tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. MT, which will be streamed on the Oilers site.