Since the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs last met on December 14, neither team has seen much game action due to COVID and The Christmas break. The Oilers have just 2 wins in their last 12 games. A lot of blame has been laid at the feet of their goaltending tandem. The “other” team has scored first in 9 of their last 11.
Also on the hot seat is Oilers Coach Dave Tippett. His team got off to a fabulous start, flirting with first overall and now they’re barely hanging onto a wild card placing in the west. His frustration came out during a post game presser in New York the other night when he was less than supportive of that night’s netminder Mikko Koskinen. Hard to believe Tippett would be on the block after only 33 games, but rumours persist that the Oilers have Mike Babcock on speed dial.
The Leafs came out as if this was to be another dominant performance over a wavering Edmonton squad. They peppered 9 shots at Westport’s Mike Smith before the game was 9 minutes old. Lo and behold, the Leafs scored on a fluke off the backboard to expose the dreaded 1-0 score against the visitors who have suffered the same fate 24 times this season. This reporter started to think: has this club really quit on Dave Tippett ?
The second half of the first showed some backbone emerging from the Edmonton squad with strong forecheck pressure forcing the home squad to scramble and chase the puck. First, Brenden Perlinni tied it at the 10 minute mark up after some poor defensive zone coverage. Later, league leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl popped in his 26th after an even worse job of d-coverage from the Leafs top pair. Were Leafs showing fatigue from only playing 2 games in the last 22 days ? They did tie it up at the :30 second mark on a crease jamming deflection goal for the sudden scoring machine TJ Broadie.
The second period decided nothing. The Oilers dug deep to try to control the breakout power of the Maple Leafs. While missing McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, Tyson Barrie and Derek Ryan, the foot soldiers seemed to be stepping up. Missed chances by Marner and Ryan Macleod were the only real excitement. Mike Smith showed his superior puck handling skills throughout this stanza. Anytime you have a 22-17 SOG usually implies a bit of a snooze fest.
Both clubs started better in the final period making for a great showcase. In only his third game back from a broken thumb Ilya Mikheyev showed the Leafs’ faith in him by lifting in the winner for their 8th consecutive PP goal. Alex Kerfoot put it away with an empty netter at :15 seconds. Leafs 4 Oilers 2.
HOPPER NOTES: The Leafs missed right winger Ondrej Kase due to a minor injury…Leafs Nation agree it will be nice to see him, Mikheyev and David Krampf rocking that third line…the “Mic’d Up” segment only proved to show what a class act Zach Hyman really is…after 13 days off due to COVID, Jake Muzzin did not look out of place…other than basic inactivity, Austin Mathews has fallen behind in the Rocket Richard goal scoring race…as games began tonight, Leon Draisaitl lead the way with 25, followed by Ovie with 24, Anaheim’s Terry (with last night’s hat trick) @ 21 and Chris Kreider of the Rangers at 20 alongside Mathews, also at 20…if Tippett does get fired after tonight, does he immediately get hired by the Winnipeg Jets ? Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy must you ALWAYS pass?