Oilers Defender is Better Option Than Ceci

With Cody Ceci out of the lineup last game the Edmonton Oilers got a glimpse of what things could look like without him.

Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports - Oilers Defender is Better Option Than Ceci

EDMONTON -- Fried duck anyone?

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The Edmonton Oilers close out the season series with the Anaheim Ducks, winning all four games. The latest one was a dominant 6-1 final score. Connor McDavid led the charge for the Oilers - posting two goals and an assist - guaranteeing that it's going to take all teams playing 82 games to decide who wins the scoring race.

The underrated heroes of the Oilers win are the defensemen. Brett Kulak was hit in the head with a puck early in the first period of yesterday's game. He would leave the game having only played 49 seconds before the incident.

In his stead the Oilers had a constant rotation of five defenders - practically all of them playing with everyone else at one point or another in the contest.

Here is how the ice time rolled out for the Oilers blue line without Kulak:

Darnell Nurse - 25:51
Mattias Ekholm - 25:59
Evan Bouchard - 24:20
Vincent Desharnais - 21:26
Troy Stecher - 18:04

Troy Stecher played an excellent game - as his stat line will certainly tell you. In addition to the ice time he had three shots, three hits and three blocks.

Stecher is a highly competitive player, and that's fairly obvious from watching him play. It's apparent that he is becoming more comfortable with his teammates, asserting himself into the game more with timely pinches, break out passes, and other little details you want your defenders to execute.

It turns out that the Oilers can survive not having Cody Ceci in the lineup. If Kulak didn't need to exit the game, the coaching staff and management could have seen what a full 60 minutes looks like with a different defenseman configuration.

That will have to wait for another game.

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