Nobody does it like the Edmonton Oilers

By Olivia Lawrence
RP Show Intern

There were five games in the NHL Wednesday night, but Rod Pedersen and Darren Dupont made an appearance at one of them, with a roadie to Rogers Place in Edmonton to watch the Edmonton Oilers face the Vancouver Canucks. You could say the duo got the royal treatment, the Oilers happily opened their doors, rolled out the red carpet, and filled Rod and Darren’s bellies with roast beef and peppercorn chicken. The icing on the cake was the Oilers team winning 3-2 in a shootout at home.

“It was big fun,” said Rod Pedersen on Thursday’s show. “I put on my Instagram that nobody does it like the Edmonton Oilers, I’m talking about their intro to the game. One player after another in numerical order, all the way leading up to number 97, the last guy, your captain NUMBER 97 CONNOR MCDAVID, and the place goes nuts.”

“It’s nothing proprietary, it’s nothing fancy, it’s just cool, and the atmosphere is great,” said Darren Dupont on Thursday’s show. “The fans were awesome and it was loud.”

Despite the ambience, everyone who watched the game knows it was not the prettiest win for the Oilers. They blew a 2-0 lead in the third period, which led them to overtime and then a shootout. Nevertheless, they still got the job done with Kyle Turris scoring the game winner. 

“I think it was in the first period, I said the one guy I hope has a good year is Kyle Turris, and then he has the shootout winner,” said Darren Dupont. “He logged some pretty good minutes and I think Kyle Turris is poised to have a bounce back year for the Oilers.”

But with the Oilers almost blowing it, Rod Pedersen wonders how happy Oilers head coach Dave Tippett is coming out of the game. Rod brought in Veteran Canadian Sports Broadcaster Andrew Walker on Thursday’s show to share his thoughts about Tippett and the Oilers. 

“If I’m Dave Tippett I liked the way they played,” said Walker. “Obviously, when they had a 2-0 lead I thought it was their game and they had a chance to put Vancouver away, but they didn’t. You obviously hate all the penalties that they took in a row…that’s just a recipe to let Vancouver back in the game and they did that with the Ekkman-Larsson goal.”

Oilers goaltender Mike Smith was largely to blame for the Canucks second goal, but besides that one mistake, he had an EXCEPTIONAL game making 36 saves on 38 shots. He was definitely a factor to the Oilers winning last night. 

“I’m happy with how the depth looked,” said Walker. “Like you know [Connor] McDavid is going to get  140 points, you know Leon Draisaitl is going to get 50 goals, you know the power play is going to be outrageous, but can you get some contributions down in the lineup? Zach Hyman obviously did what he did and I heard you guys talking a little bit about Kyle Turris before, and you know anything that he gives you is kind of a bonus, and I thought he played with some jump last night.”

Hyman was a key player for the Oilers despite not being on the topline with Draisaitl and McDavid. He scored on the power play and played well in every situation he was in.

Moving forward, there are indeed some teaching moments to be had for the Oilers, but it’s always nice to start off a season with a win. Let’s see what the Oilers can do in game two when they face the Calgary Stampeders at home on Saturday (Oct. 16).