LOS ANGELES — Before Oscar Klefbom met the media post-game Tuesday, he grabbed water.
“He’s tired, he needs that,” said somebody in the Edmonton Oilers locker room.
No kidding. He probably needs an oxygen tank more.
Klefbom played 31:38 of a 60-minute game, most of his career, and most by an Oiler in almost 14 years, according to ace historian and radio play-by-play man Jack Michaels.
Chris Pronger played 31:51 of the regulation game in a 3-1 loss to Buffalo Jan. 16, 2006.
Klefbom leads the NHL in average ice-time per game at 25:55, with San Jose’s Brent Burns next at 25:47 and Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot third at 25:22. LA’s Drew Doughty, who’s next on tap Thursday is 25:20.
When told he plays more than anybody else, Klefbom rolled his eyes even if he hasn’t had one night through the first 23 games where he’s played fewer than 21:43 (New York Rangers, Oct. 12). He’s had six games over 27 minutes with a high of 27:42 in the OT win in Pittsburgh Nov. 2
The Oilers lost Matt Benning in the first period after just 2:55 ice-time, so there was lots of rotating with just five defencemen.
“I didn’t feel that bad, actually,” said Klefbom. “The body feels good, feels like I can play a lot of minutes. Obviously, it’s important minutes when you play against San Jose because they get a lot of momentum from their fans in their rink.”
When told he’s in the top three in minutes played, Klefbom was surprised though.
“Really? I feel I can handle the minutes. If they put me out for 30 minutes, I better do something good with it,” said Klefbom, who found Markus Granlund with a dandy pass for the game’s first goal, then got a second assist on James Neal’s power-play goal.
Klefbom, who started the Sharks game with Caleb Jones on his right side before Benning got hurt, has 17 points in 23 games, eight in the last five.
Benning got whacked in the face by Evander Kane’s stick as the puck rattled around the glass. No foul in the two refs eyes (Francois St. Laurent or Tom Chmielewski) but lots of harm for the Oilers defenceman who only played four shifts and was done for the night with what Oilers are calling “upper-body.” It could easily be concussion protocol.
Oil Spills podcast: Taylor Hall back to the Oilers, the trade rumour that won’t die
The rumour has been persistent since early in this NHL season, that Taylor Hall — former Edmonton Oilers star — would welcome a trade away from the New Jersey Devils, who have faltered on the ice thus far. And his rumoured preferred destination? The Oilers.
Host Craig Ellingson talks to hockey beat writer Derek Van Diest about the rumours and what a Taylor Hall trade to Edmonton would mean for the team.
Bang for buck
There was rightfully some gnashing of teeth when former GM Peter Chiarelli gave Mikko Koskinen that three-year, $4.5-million cap hit contract off a very small sample size just before he was fired. But Koskinen looks like a bargain right now with an 8-1-2 record. Just one regulation loss in Detroit October 29 and he has a .923 save percentage and a 2.39 average.
He didn’t think he was anything special in San Jose , but he had 17 saves in the first as Oilers scored three times on nine shots on Martin Jones for a 3-1 lead. The only first-period shot that got past him was a fluke by Kevin Labanc after Koskinen had made three superb stops when Oilers failed to clear the puck three times.
“Off their player, then it goes off my back and I almost caught it,” said Koskinen.
What’s the difference in this year and last?
“I dunno. There’s no reason to compare a year ago and what it is now. I’m trying to move on,” said Koskinen. “It was an easier off-season for me because I knew what I had to improve on (glove hand).”
His puck-handling is better, too, with Mike Smith ’s tutoring.
“I’m handling it a lot more, but with my skills, I still need to keep it really simple. No fancy passes. I’m not like Mike. He’s the best in the NHL,” Koskinen said.
Lots of life in these wheels
Zack Kassian seems to have more energy this season to play five-on-five because he isn’t killing penalties anymore. The Oilers have a buffet line doing that — Riley Sheahan, Josh Archibald, Jujhar Khaira, Markus Granlund along with the usual staple Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“Yeah, you have a little bit more pop in the legs with all the stopping and starting you do but our PK has been great and has won us games. Don’t fix anything that’s going that well,” said Kassian.
The Oilers have killed off 21 straight over six games, just nine allowed in 75 tries in all.
This ‘n’ that
- Leon Draisaitl’s 13-game point streak ties that of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Nate MacKinnon for the season high. Their streaks are over.
- McDavid has more points in the last five games (16) than any LA player has all season except for Anze Kopitar’s 22.
- Jeff Carter, who just reached the 1,000 game mark, only has six goals for the Kings but leads them with three game-winners.
- It should be interesting to see where Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson plays when he returns to the back-end Thursday for his 500th NHL game.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
