I Watched This Game: The First Dance

Today's edition of "I Watched This Game" brings us to Buffalo and the first opportunity to see the top two picks from last year's draft in head-to-head competition, as the Buffalo Sabres welcomed the Edmonton Oilers into town last night. Many have seen this as Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel, but as you will see, there are two different skill sets at varying degrees of season-wear, as McDavid is nearing the 30-game mark thanks to injury that wiped out about three months while Eichel has played the entire season and is showing the toll of going from an NCAA schedule to a professional schedule.

FIRST PERIOD:

• Just a little over 20 seconds into the game, and Connor McDavid made the first goal happen, from forcing Zack Bogosian to turn over the puck in his own end to finding a trailing Jordan Eberle, who found McDavid going to the net, where he made Robin Lehner look foolish en route to scoring the first goal of the game.
• Since coming back from injury, the Oilers coaches had the good sense to put Eberle with McDavid, and it's paid off handsomely. Conversely, I have no idea why Nail Yakupov is on the line with McDavid this game, as he's been okay, at best with McDavid. With other players, he's looked lost. More on this later.
• Eichel wasn't even on the ice before the first goal, and though he's put up good numbers, it seems that the constant change in linemates this season has limited just how good he can be, and having Evander Kane on one wing doesn't help matters. I could count the chances he missed this game.
• Speaking of ill-fitting linemates, why is Yakupov floating around the circles in the dying seconds of the period? While McDavid and company are trying to find that second goal, Yakupov is not even trying to go hard to the net. No wonder Oilers fans are upset with Yakupov's play.
• The Oilers head into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. It would have been a tied game had Adam Pardy not cleared the puck from goal line. Besides McDavid, Pardy was the best Oiler on the ice this game. 

SECOND PERIOD

• In case you're wondering about the other Oilers newcomers, Adam Cracknell was silent for much of the game while Patrick Maroon was a healthy scratch, presumably due to not having all his equipment ready for the game, a common thing for players traveling coast-to-coast, as Maroon did from Anaheim to Buffalo.
• As for the game, the first penalty happens, as Iiro Pakarinen will sit for interference.
• Soon after the penalty ends, Jack Eichel high-sticked, so he sits for two minutes and feels shame.
• Throughout the game, there were cutaway shots to McDavid's parents, as well as an interview with Dylan Strome, McDavid's former teammate at Erie.
• By the way, seeing Strome in Arizona next year will be a treat, as he's growing into the leadership role with the Otters this season.
• Andrej Sekera beats the buzzer with a rebound past Lehner, but hold on, there's a coach's challenge from the Buffalo bench.
• Replay showed that the Oilers were offside before the initial shot and subsequent put-back by Sekera, so that goal is no good, and the Oilers will have to settle for a 1-0 lead after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD:

• Zemgus Girgensons tripped an Oilers player, so he will have two minutes to think about what he did.
• No matter, as the Sabres kill the penalty.
• Sam Reinhart made an art gallery quality pass to a charging Cal O'Reilly, who puts one past Cam Talbot to tie things up. Ryan may be out due to injury, but that doesn't mean an O'Reilly can't score when given the chance, as brother Cal showed.
• We get free hockey this day, as the Sabres and Oilers couldn't solve their problems after 60 minutes of play.

OVERTIME:

• The Sabres got caught with too many men on the ice, which Reinhart serves.
• Eichel went wide on a backhander and the loose puck found its way to McDavid. McDavid showed another facet of his game that people marvel over, as he went end to end and slips one past Lehner to give the Oilers a victory to start their four-game road trip.

Perhaps the first game between McDavid and Eichel didn't live up to the hype, as Eichel did struggle. However, both players did play hard, and while it will take a little time for Eichel to eventually get used to a pro-style schedule, he showed that the parts where he wasn't on the puck were still good. McDavid, on the other hand, played almost exactly to expectations, as hockey sense was a big reason for the first goal while speed with the puck was on display on the game-winner. Both goalies deserved to win, though Lehner did show that he is still a work in progress as a first year starter on the NHL level while Talbot was just beaten on a great give and go from Reinhart to Cal O'Reilly. As for the bad, Yakupov was it. Too many times, he didn't close the deal when the puck went his way, and when it wasn't he just stayed outside the dirty areas, something that is sure to have coach Todd McLellan see red.