Golden Knights give too much space to Oilers’ talented duo — ANALYSIS
Wayne Gretzky was at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday to watch Edmonton’s dynamic scoring duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl take on the Golden Knights.
The NHL’s all-time leading scorer had to come away impressed.
McDavid and Draisaitl worked over the Knights defense at even strength and with the man advantage, combining for five points in the Oilers’ 4-2 victory.
“You give them time and space in the offensive zone, you back off them and let them make their passes, they’re going to make them. They’re great players. They’re going to make them,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “You take their time and space away and play them tight. So, instead of defending all the time, you have to play them aggressively and finish some checks on them.
“You’ve got to play them harder than we did. We played them real soft. You’re not going to beat that team doing that. I’m not saying take penalties on them. I’m saying play them harder.”
McDavid finished with two goals, both of which were set up by Draisaitl, and has 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) during his current 10-game points streak.
By comparison, William Karlsson leads the Knights with 23 points in 25 games.
In nine career games against the Knights, McDavid has 15 points, the most by any player against the league’s newest team.
Draisaitl notched three assists and leads the NHL with 47 points (16 goals, 31 assists), one more than McDavid.
Both are on pace to surpass 150 points, which has only been accomplished by five players in history — Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Phil Esposito and Bernie Nicholls.
“Obviously, we’ve had a good start,” McDavid said. “We’re trying to build something here. It takes a lot of work. A lot of focus. I’ve liked our start. We’ve continued to build on that and we need to continue to build.”
The Knights matched defensemen Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb against the Draisaitl-McDavid-Zack Kassian line as often as possible during 5-on-5 play, and McNabb was on the ice for Edmonton’s first two goals.
On the opener, rookie defenseman Nic Hague did well to stay with Draisaitl and swept the puck into the corner, where it ended up with McNabb. But McNabb was unable to clear and got knocked to the ice by Kassian, allowing Draisaitl to gain possession.
McDavid got a step on Reilly Smith, took a quick pass from Draisaitl, skated through the slot and tucked a forehand past Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s outstretched right skate 5:17 into the first period.
“They’ve got some pretty fast players that can really make you pay, one in particular,” Knights forward Cody Eakin said. “They were able to do their thing tonight.”
Draisaitl took advantage of the Knights’ poor defensive zone coverage to help put Edmonton on top 2-0 with four minutes remaining in the first.
After winning a puck battle with the Knights’ Mark Stone behind the net, Draisaitl used a screen from McDavid to create space along the left wing. He spotted defenseman Ethan Bear uncovered at the right point and snapped a backhand pass through the slot.
Bear beat Fleury with a low wrist shot before Schmidt could arrive in time to close down the lane.
McDavid and Draisaitl teamed up for the final Oilers’ goal on a power play at 2:11 of the third period.
Fleury made the initial save on Draisaitl’s drive but was out of position after he unsuccessfully tried to cover the rebound. Draisaitl scooped up the puck and found McDavid in the slot for a one-timer before Fleury could fully recover.
“I don’t know what their secret is,” defenseman Nick Holden said. “We didn’t play them the way we should have and they capitalized on the opportunities they had.
“We didn’t play our game consistently enough. We didn’t play fast enough and gave them a little too much space.”
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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
