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The two injuries, like that, played a late match with Seattle Kraken, who was not described, became a strangely engaging measuring stick.
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What would the Edmonton Oilers look like without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl?
Is it like watching the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger and Keith Richards?
Like watching a plane trying to fly without any wings?
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They turned out to look good, with the Edmonton support actor playing the leading role in the 5-4 decision to Cracon.
Kraken must have been licking when they found that 97 and 29 weren’t playing, but it was obvious from the start that Edmonton still had a lot of bites in a game, with 10 different oilers at least a little.
It’s not just some kind of social experiment to see what happens. These views are important, especially in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where they both won earlier that night.
Edmonton led 4-2 after 40 minutes, watching Seattle cut Seattle to 4-3 in 14 minutes, and then bent into an empty net at 17:43 six-on-four (playing against goalkeepers in Seattle power).
Everything heated up against Seattle before McDavid and Draisaitl were injured.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stood out from back-to-back third-point nights to lead with a hat-trick.
Jeff Skinner scored two goals in a two-goal match against Winnipeg, scoring the evil goalkeeper goal in the second stage.
Stuart Skinner is as good as he needs to score goals.
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Edmonton’s ego didn’t miss any rhythm, scoring twice in the first 40 minutes (Adam Henrique and Nugent-Hopkins).
“I thought everyone stepped up to do a good job tonight,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Sometimes, a man gets rewarded for the team’s performance, and I think what happened tonight (to me).
Ironically, it was something that had nothing to do with McDavid or Draisaitl that kept it close – Kraken scored again on the Evan Bouchard giveaway at the Blue Line – but Close Close isn’t good enough.
“Whether it’s the skin or the Nuge scoring goals, or the guys on the fourth line stepping up and giving us some quality shifts, up and down roster, we’re doing a great job,” said defensive Mattias Ekholm. “It’s nice to see people who don’t usually get that minute, playing in those situations. They’re doing a great job.”
Perspective Affairs – Seattle is the 13th-place team at the Western Conference, winning a win rate of 0.464 – but it’s a positive statement that many consider to be a team of two.
“It’s certain that we have to show what we accomplish, show how deep we are,” said defensive Jake Walman. “We don’t always have to rely on two people. I’m sure a lot of the time they take on the weight, but at these moments we have to step up and everyone has to prove it.”
Email: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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