Canadian 3 – Oilers 5 | Guhle and the lessons

On paper, the elements were in place for the Canadian to suffer a defeat on the account of inexperience.

From his first appearance, Zach Hyman escaped the attention of Kaiden Guhle to go alone. Jake Allen managed the save, but it’s the kind of sequence that could have destabilized more than one rookie.

Except Guhle pulled himself together and if that game ended 5-3 in favor of the Oilers, it certainly wasn’t his fault.

Martin St-Louis was in no mood to praise his player after the game. “He played a good game. I’m not surprised,” the head coach said simply.

It must be said that St-Louis had just seen its more established players commit a series of errors and questionable choices, which led to the loss of the Canadian.

It starts with Joel Edmundson who, by getting sent off early in the second period, helped put more pressure on the three rookie defensemen in the lineup. His penalty also, in a minor detail, gave a five-minute power play to one of the best teams in the NHL in these circumstances.

It continued with Nick Suzuki, guilty of a stupid mental error (closing his hand on the puck in the defensive zone), which earned the CH captain a penalty that he himself described as “stupid”.

“It was the good decision of the referee, I had no right to do that, especially since we were already shorthanded,” complained Suzuki.

One can also wonder what Mike Matheson and Jake Evans were thinking when they went on the attack while the team defended 3 on 5. Matheson certainly got a quality shot, and he and Evans fell back in time to the counterattack. But all three players were exhausted and were therefore unable to stop Connor McDavid from gaining momentum and taking a powerful shot, which Jake Allen could have stopped. Was he anticipating the cross pass?

On the insurance goal, Josh Anderson, entering the zone, tries a side pass despite the presence of a certain Leon Draisaitl at his side. It was enough for the German to send his faithful sidekick McDavid on a breakaway, with the result that we know.

In short, in all these crucial games, nowhere do we see the name of Guhle, despite a chaotic first presence. Despite also strong media attention for his first match “at home”, attention he measured on Saturday morning by seeing a good contingent of journalists who came to talk to him.

On the contrary, the young man recovered from his next presence, neutralizing McDavid and relaunching the attack by winning a race for the puck. What about his two checks, one after the other, on this same McDavid in the middle of the first period?

“The guys on the bench loved it,” Suzuki said. He’s a guy who’s good in big games, he’s going to be playing players of that quality all his career, so as good as he gets used to. »

Guhle is already getting used to it. The attackers he has faced the most this season, 5 against 5? Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Kirill Kaprizov and Johnny Gaudreau. No naughty hockey players.

On Saturday, he spent more than seven minutes against McDavid at 5-5. The 97 certainly scored, but it was the result of Johnathan Kovacevic falling deep in the territory.

Even Arber Xhekaj did well. He was certainly spared matchups against McDavid and Draisaitl, but to stand up to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, as he did, is noteworthy for a depth defender who does not yet have 25 games of experience in the NHL.

Except that the indiscipline cost the CH dearly, which explains why even by limiting the damage to 5 against 5, McDavid and Draisaitl ended the evening with four points each.

Martin St-Louis often says he corrects ugly tendencies rather than occasional mistakes. The trend of recent games is more one of discipline, a concept that includes both mental errors, positioning and execution. In the last four games, the CH have given 18 numerical advantages to their rivals, a high figure.

This is an ugly tendency to correct, certainly less worrying than if his young defenders were crumbling under the pressure.

Rising

Kirby Dash

We would have liked to highlight the good work of Yolande, the friendly Franco-Albertan lady who operates the media elevator. But since it’s necessary, let’s go with Dach, who played near his home and gave an inspired performance.

Falling

Joel Edmundson

Whether we consider his expulsion excessive or not, even a simple minor penalty of two minutes, at that time of the match, would have hurt his team.

The number of the match

27

With two goals and two assists, Connor McDavid has amassed at least 4 points in a game for the 27^e times in his career. Since his arrival in 2015, he has been a peak in the NHL, far ahead of his teammate Leon Draisailt, whose 20^e gender match, and Nikita Kucherov.

In details

The presentiment of St-Louis

“I feel that the production is coming. These words are not those of Madame Minou, but of Martin St-Louis. The head coach of the Canadiens was talking about Joel Armia, who was still without the point as of Saturday morning, hence the comment from St-Louis. The Finn made sure to make his coach look good in the second period, finally getting on the scoreboard when he got an assist on Evgenii Dadonov’s goal. Armia almost did it again in the third period, when his resounding wrist shot hit the horizontal bar.

The guards, again and again…

In the opinion of colleagues, Stuart Skinner is one of the surprises of the first quarter of the Oilers season. However, the 24-year-old goalkeeper should not run out of gas, because the club’s other goalkeeper, Jack Campbell, is unrecognizable at the start of the season. However, Skinner has now allowed 15 goals in his last 4 starts, and the generous comeback, right in the paying zone, he gave Armia on Dadonov’s goal is the kind of play a top keeper must avoid. The Oilers have now allowed three or more goals for the ninth straight game. At least they have the ammo to generate attack…

In the Shadow of the Titans

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are getting all the attention in Edmonton, of course. But like a Marcel Gauthier, Zach Hyman accomplishes a whole lot of work in the shadow of his illustrious trio companions. The former Maple Leafs announced his colors from the start of the game by escaping alone in front of Jake Allen, a good reminder of his impressive speed for a burly winger. And on the winning goal, scored at the very end of the second period, it was the pressure he exerted on Johnathan Kovacevic that contributed to the fall of the Canadiens defender, starting a cascade of events that would lead to the net of Darnell Nurse. With 26 points in 25 games, Hyman is on pace to smash his career high of 54 points in a season, set last year.