Oilers vs. Wild December 9th 2022
Edmonton gets the best of the Minnesota Wild in another complete performance starting with Stuart Skinner, who adds to his impressive save percentage in his rookie season.
The Oilers seem to be feeling it in their past 10 days of play and have back to back complete games this time over a very formidable Minnesota team. In the previous breakdown I said a key to the Oilers winning this game was to find an answer for the ever-present Kirill Kaprizov which they limited to only an assist. Mats Zuccarello scored a goal off of a perfectly placed shot on the rush off the back of great pass from Kirill but that would be the only time the big line found the scoreboard.
Edmonton played a mostly mistake free game save for the two goals allowed both of which were due to defensive blunders. And one of which was a particularly terrible effort by the Oilers top paid defender Darnell Nurse which I will break down thoroughly.
As you can see the Oilers almost duplicated their shot selection plan from the previous game against the Coyotes, they have a tendency that while is predictable it is also tough to stop. A lot of their offence starts from the half wall and ends in front of the net with rebounds and 50/50 pucks, which is an area the Oilers really excel at. The addition of Zach Hyman has really solidified their identity as a dogged forechecking team that hunts loose pucks and often wins those battles.
If the Oilers can keep bringing these complete game performances they will continue to win games.
The Wild’s first goal came off of what should have been a routine puck retrieval for for Nurse and his partner Ceci. A forward chipped the puck in for a change while Eriksson Ek stayed on the forecheck. Nurse did not bear down on the play, moved to his right towards the corner and softly chipped the puck in an attempted reversal behind his net to his partner Ceci. Eriksson Ek was able to make a play on the soft pass, intercepted it, took it to the front of the net and made a nice move to beat Skinner. What is particularly bothersome on this goal is Darnell Nurses lack of urgency getting back to the front of the net to correct his mistake and his body language afterwards. These kinds of mental errors seem to be abundant in his game right now which I presume are the “personal errors” Woodcroft references in his post game media availability.
The second Wild goal as aforementioned came off of a skilled play by both Kirill Kaprizov making the play to Zuccarello off the pass from Spurgeon and Zuccarello with a laser shot selection to beat Skinner clean.
Outside of the two goals however, Minnesota didn’t get many opportunities or drive play the way Edmonton did and ultimately failed to complete a comeback. The Oilers were relentless at 5on5 with their Corsi For % hitting nearly 57 as well as their Fenwick For. The power play was also clicking and cashed in twice on their opportunities. Stuart Skinner was also stellar, stopping 42 of 44 shots giving him a .955 save percentage on the evening.
The Oilers are playing their best hockey as of late that they have all season, but it’s still critical in my evaluation that they clean up defensive errors. Where the answer is on the trade market or in-house remains to be seen but it seems more plausible to be the former.
Next up they travel to Minnesota for a game against the Wild again in a home-and-home. It’s expected right now that Skinner and Fleury will both get the call again. Edmonton has had 2 nights off and Minnesota is coming off a victory over the Canucks on Saturday night.