Connor McDavid's Rexall Place Edmonton Debut Takes Place; Oilers to 0-4-0

[Event Summary]

[Cult of Hockey]

The orange jerseys were on. The barn was dark. It was a late start from Edmonton. Everything could have been perefect. But the Oilers were flat, and they lost the game 4-2. Once again, Vladimir Tarsenko probably had the goal of the game. 

Taylor Hall played his ass off, like a man possessed. He scored all by himself coming out of a faceoff to cut the lead to 3-2.



Hall took six shots and was +1 on the night, but the Oilers are just playing a flat game right now of mostly dumping the puck down the ice and then skating in circles. Todd Mclellan has not shaped these guys yet.

In five minutes of power play time, Connor Mcdavid failed to record a shot. I was underwhelmed by his game.

Once again, the next game is the big one. Saturday night in Calgary is the Battle of Alberta. It's time to get it going.

Game 1, 2015-2016: The Connor McDavid Debut Night is Spoiled

[Event Summary]
[Cult of Hockey]

The good news is the Connor McDavid era is officially underway. The bad news is it ended with a loss, a -1 in the +/- column, only two shots, and being stonewalled on a great scoring opportunity by Blues goaltender Brian Elliot.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was credited with the opening goal of the night to put the Oilers up 1-0. It was really a fluke goal that was tipped in by a St. Louis Blues player. From there, it was all downhill. 

Vladimir Tarasenko tied the game at 1-1 with this:

I thought Cam Talbot played alright - he stopped 28 of 31 shots and played in a lot of traffic. Taylor Hall had a quiet night, logging just three shots and I can't remember any of them as significant chances.

Rookie Robby Fabbri who was noted as being close friends of McDavid scored the first goal of his career in his first NHL game.

Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada says "it's crazy to think the Oilers are a playoff team". For right now, I must beg to differ. They seemed to me like the same old Oilers without any backbone. I think McDavid's scoreless streak could go on a little while as well. He just seemed to be out-muscled out there.