Takeaways from the Ducks 5-3 Loss to the Oilers
Detailed notes from Friday night's game between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks
Takeaways from the Ducks 5-3 Loss to the OilersThe Anaheim Ducks hosted the Edmonton Oilers on Friday evening at Honda Center. The Ducks came into this one fresh off of their bye week. Their last game was a 3-2 victory over the Sharks in overtime on Jan. 31. The opposing Oilers just had their 16-game win streak snapped on Tuesday night to the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
The two teams exchanged goals until halfway through the third period when the Oilers pulled ahead 4-3 on a power play goal from Leon Draisaitl. Evander Kane went on to add an empty net goal as the clock wound down for his hat trick. John Gibson didn’t return to the game after the second period due to a lower-body injury. Here are my takeaways from this game:
The Henrique-Carlsson-Strome line: Leo Carlsson has a remarkable ability to catch defenders off guard because he makes his transition passes mid-stride. Ryan Strome was smart about how and when he presented himself as an option in those situations and Carlsson was able to find him.
Adam Henrique was able to win board battles off broken plays and find ways to get pucks to Carlsson who was the high F3.
The Vaakanainen-Gudas pair: Urho Vaakanainen played 12:37 against Connor McDavid at 5v5, and Radko Gudas played 15:01 against him. This was one of the few times Greg Cronin hard-matched a pair or line against an opponent. They each did a terrific job in coverage against the best player in the world. McDavid loves to get defenders leaning one way and cut back the other to gain separation. Keeping shoulders square and yourself, as the defender, between the puck carrier and the net is critical in those situations.
There was only one instance for each Gudas and Vaakanainen where McDavid caught them leaning; against Gudas it was in the corner on a cycle and against Vaakanainen, it was on a rush.
Troy Terry: Terry wasn’t able to find much space with the puck on his stick in this game. He found ways to be effective, however. He was terrific with his stick to break up plays between the opposing blueline and the tops of the circles.
Lukas Dostal: Dostal consistently makes wildly skillful plays look incredibly casual. He will make an important glove save, knock a high rim down off the glass, or make a post-to-post pad save look like they're routine plays. There was nothing he, or any goaltender, could have done to stop the two goals he let in.
Ducks Power Play: There was an effort to have the strong-side flank operate lower in the zone, almost in the corner. It opened up space for the point defenseman to move laterally or for the bumper to pop out as a high option.
Oilers Power Play: The amount of shifting and switching McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Draisaitl do between flanks and bumper is neck-breaking. On Edmonton’s fourth goal, McDavid started on the right flank, ran a give-and-go to the corner, and found himself as a bumper before switching to the left flank where he was able to send the game-winning assist over to Draisaitl.
If the Ducks can incorporate some of that creativity into their power plays in the future that play to the strengths of their best players, it can be incredibly potent for a long time.