October 27, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Games between the Edmonton Oilers and the Chicago Blackhawks tend to be high-scoring, fun games to watch. Thursday’s game was no different! It was nothing if not exciting. It was a roller coaster of emotions for both teams. The Oilers escaped the Windy City with a 6-5 victory.

Penalties were the story of this game. The teams combined for 20 penalties, 14 of which were in the second period! The Blackhawks went 2/10 on their powerplay, and the Oilers went 3/7 on theirs. It’s hard to imagine that special teams won the game for the Oilers on a night where they took eleven penalties and allowed ten powerplays, but that’s how it happened.

Call Outs:

Darnell Nurse was caught up the ice after a Zach Hyman rush up the wing where he took the puck around the net and passed it back into the slot. He didn’t recognize that the puck was turned over in time, and Andreas Athanasiou was sprung for a breakaway on Nurse’s side. Athanasiou tied the game at one on that play. Nurse also failed to tie up Jonathan Toews’s stick on his powerplay goal. Nurse didn’t contribute any offence in this one, and he played a big role in two goals against.

I’m not normally one to do this, but this has to happen tonight. The referees sh*t the bed on Evander Kane’s disallowed goal. First of all, the referee closest to the goal called it a goal on the ice, but the call on the ice was deemed to be “no goal”. The video clearly showed the referee calling it a goal, so I don’t know why the call on the ice was different.

Second of all, Seth Jones pushed Kane into Alex Stalock. Kane was standing outside of the crease, and Jones pushed him into Stalock. That’s not goaltender interference. The puck then went to the point and was shot towards the net. The puck hit Kane and then hit Stalock’s pad. Stalock made a save AFTER the contact. Kane was up on his feet and away from the play at that point. The REBOUND came to Kane in the slot, and he buried it. There is ABSOLUTELY NO evidence to suggest that the goal should have been disallowed. 

I have no idea what that officiating crew was thinking, but they bungled that play. It cost the Oilers a goal, a challenge, and a goal against on the ensuing powerplay. Justice was served in this game.

Standouts:

It gets harder and harder to come up with things to say about Connor McDavid when he scores four points in a game! He was feeling it tonight. He made two identical cross seam passes to Hyman in the first period, one of which he buried. McDavid started an insane second period off by sniping one over Stalock’s shoulder. His second goal was a bit of a lucky bounce off Stalock and in on a 4-on-3 powerplay. Finally, he scored a DISGUSTING powerplay goal where he walked around Jake McCabe, who overcommitted by reaching, and then threw a series of fakes on Stalock before slamming it home.

McDavid overshadowed Leon Draisaitl’s performance. He scored the game winning goal and added two assists on his 27th birthday. I feel like I’ve given Draisaitl the short end of the stick in these write ups this season. He’s had a few big nights, but it’s only been his show on one or two occasions. This is another example of an excellent outing being overshadowed by McDavid.

Shout Outs:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is flying out there! He put up another three points tonight, including a big goal on the tail end of a powerplay split between the second and third periods that tied the game at four.

Evander Kane took two retaliatory cross checking penalties on the same play and had a goal disallowed. I don’t like the penalties, but I did like that he had Blackhawks trying to beat the living snot out of him all night long. He had the building booing while he was in the corner celebrating what should’ve been the 4-3 goal. He didn’t get credit for the goal, but I’ll give him credit for doing exactly what he was brought to Edmonton to do: get under the opponent’s skin and score goals.

Jack Campbell made several great saves to keep the Oilers in it, especially during the second period parade to the penalty box. The Blackhawks were able to counter quickly after the first three Oilers goals. Campbell was able to put a stop to that trend. He robbed Philipp Kurashev and Jones on a 4-on-4 sequence. While Nurse was serving an unnecessary roughing penalty, Campbell made a big glove save on Taylor Raddysh. 

The penalty kill allowed two goals, but that’s not so bad when you consider that the Blackhawks had ten powerplays. Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid both drew penalties while on the penalty kill to negate Chicago powerplays. Campbell made several great saves while shorthanded. It was a decent effort on the penalty kill all around.

The powerplay was exceptional. It accounted for half of the Oilers’s offence including two game tying goals and the 5-4 goal in the third period. The powerplay didn’t just provide scoring, it was timely scoring.

The Oilers have been much better to start the last two games. They will need to have another better start, avoid mental mistakes, and stay out of the box against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. That game will be a chance to gain some ground on the Pacific Division leaders and to avenge their loss from two weeks ago. Hopefully their appetite for revenge isn’t satiated after beating the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.