Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates a goal with Leon Draisaitl (29) and Kailer Yamamoto (56) on Nashville Predators’ goaltender Pekka Rinne at Rogers Place on Jan. 14, 2020. Photo by Ian Kucerak /Postmedia
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After two games of the Edmonton Oilers going with the same twelve forwards only to suffer identical results — a pair of shutout losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs — a couple of different options made an appearance in Tuesday’s morning practice.
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As per Ryan Rishaug, James Neal was not only skating with the main group, but wearing the white jersey that commonly designates a placement in the top six. He appears to be replacing Dominik Kahun in that group. In fact, Kahun was reportedly not on the ice at all.
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The bigger news came during the line rushes, when a familiar trio lined up together for the first time in basically a calendar year. That would be the threesome of Leon Draisaitl between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto, the trio that terrorized the NHL in the opening months of 2020. Over 27 games together, the DYNamite Line outscored opponents by a whopping 28-8 margin in a little over five hours of 5v5 time together (about 12 minutes per game).
The success of that group powered Draisaitl to the Hart Trophy, yet for whatever reason Tippett broke them up just before COVID shut down the regular season on March 12. No sign of them in the play-in series until the dying minutes of the elimination game, and they played just 2:40 together in the series.
More of the same so far in 2021. Through 24 games, the Dynamite Line played just 6:27 together — total. But that is about to change.
Here are today’s lines and pairings as reported by Rishaug:
Forwards
Neal – McDavid – Puljujarvi
RNH – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Ennis – Khaira – Archibald
P. Russell – Haas – Chiasson
Nygard – Turris – Shore
It’s possible Neal is a placeholder for Kahun, but equally possible he’s a replacement. It’s been rough couple of games for the top six in general, who have seen mid-game shuffles in both games. On Saturday night Tippett switched out his star centres, while on Monday the two right wings changed lines. But nothing worked: zero goals obviously, while various permutations and combinations of the top six were on the ice for all five even-strength goals scored by Toronto over the two games.
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It’s clear that Nygard-Turris-Shore is the fifth line, though one of them (or Kahun) may be called in to action pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing involving Alex Chiasson, who crosschecked Toronto’s Jimmy Vesey in the head area at the final buzzer last night.
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Not a vicious assault by any means, but also not the sort of thing that the Department of Player Safety is apt to ignore entirely either. We’ll soon fine out what sort of punishment is doled out by DOPS’ final decision maker, the Magic Eight Ball™. That trusty unit was last put into service doling out a $5,000 fine to Vancouver’s Antoine Roussel for a bare-knuckle sucker punch of Puljujarvi last week. Not Chiasson’s finest moment as an Oiler no matter how you slice it, even as it was a continuation of a raucous final minute of play last night that included three separate scrums.
Defence
Nurse – Bear
K. Russell – Barrie
Jones – Larsson
Lagesson – Bouchard
On the back end, the impending return of William Lagesson gives Tippett another option on the left side, but in the short term it appears that both he and Evan Bouchard may be the odd men out on Wednesday night. A significant shuffle on the other pairings, as the long-standing pair of Darnell Nurse and Ethan Bear are reunited as are occasional duo of Kris Russell and Tyson Barrie. The 2B pairing of Caleb Jones and Adam Larsson also has experience together, including the last game and a half.
Goal
Zero surprise that Mike Smith was back in the starter’s net today. He delivered 40 scoreless minutes last night after replacing Mikko Koskinen at the start of the second period. By then the damage was done, of course; the big scoreboard already read 3-0 Leafs and there it remained.
It was a tough night for Koskinen, making his first appearance since a stellar 43-save performance against Calgary nine days previous. He had little chance on the first and third Toronto goals, but the middle one — a wicked William Nylander backhand from range that beat him glove side — was an absolute killer.
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That said, those in Oil Country who are pointing fingers at the goaltending should consider their joint performance as a duo since Smith was activated before a game in Ottawa on Feb 08.
Make it a combined .934 save percentage for the twosome over that span, and an 8-3-0 record for the Oilers. And while each man allowed at least one softie in the current Toronto set, the fact remains that their teammates produced a grand total of zero (0) goals at the other end in the two games so far. Unless that changes tomorrow, it doesn’t much matter what the stoppers do.
Time to blow up the forward lines. Bring on the Dynamite.
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