Eric Gryba fired nine pucks at the Los Angeles Kings‘ net Thursday. Two actually got all the way through to the goaltender.
Actually, make that one. The other one went in — a bunt single, game-winner by the big, stay-at-home defenceman, his only snipe of the season and first since Feb. 2.
And we should probably add, if it had been, say, Sidney Crosby who whacked that puck out of mid-air and into the Kings’ net, he’d be getting a lot more love from the highlight shows today than Gryba is likely to receive.
“What can you say?” shrugged Kings goalie Peter Budaj after a 3-1 loss at Rogers Place. “We tied the game and then Gryba hit it out of the air.”
“It was just a lucky play,” offered the big, former Ottawa Senators third-rounder. “I took a swing at it and it went in.”
Gryba charged the L.A. goal and found a puck suspended in mid-air at the top of Budaj’s crease. He calmly slotted it home, proving that every guy from Saskatoon has a bit of Gordie Howe in him every once in a while.
Even a guy with six goals in 236 NHL games.
“He does a lot of dirty work for this team. Everybody was happy for him,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “We would have loved to have seen him score the other three or four he probably should have had tonight…”
For some odd reason it poured scoring chances for Gryba on Thursday, who slots in as a No. 7 defencemen when everyone is healthy in Edmonton, and shoots like it. He missed a yawning cage with the score at 2-1 after busting open a 1-1 tie seven minutes into the third period.
“I could have had four tonight. I missed the net a couple of times,” lamented the 6-foot-4 plugger. “I don’t get in those situations very often.”
What do his teammates tell a guy like Gryba, who scores one but could have had three?
“You hear it from the guys,” he said, “but I just tell them I’ll fight them.”
If ‘Gryba as the offensive hero’ is a new storyline here in Edmonton, the Oilers’ transformation into a team that can win games like this one is becoming an oft-written tale.
Edmonton had five wins in its previous 25 starts against Los Angeles, a bigger, heavier, more systematic and responsible team with better goaltending that has always had an answer for Edmonton over the past decade.
But these aren’t yesterday’s Oilers anymore. Time and time again, they’re proving that the change promised by CEO Bob Nicholson and President/GM Peter Chiarelli has arrived.
And increasingly, it appears as if it’s going to become the norm in Northern Alberta.
“From the start of the year, we understood the importance of games against Anaheim, L.A. and Arizona, who have had our number,” said winger Jordan Eberle, whose two assists gave him his first multi-point night in a dozen games. “This is a good start for us, the four points to push ourselves ahead against a good team that we’ve struggled with in the past.”
Said McLellan: “We had scorers that checked, some checkers that scored — so that took care of the game sheet. And in particular [the team had success] clearing our zone. They’re a heavy, heavy pinch-and-cover team, and we were able to punt on third down, if you will, and clear the zone.”
It’s always a punishing, low-scoring slog against Los Angeles. As such, a light, skating Oilers club has been easy prey. The Kings were always able to dictate the style of game in this building, and the old Oilers simply could not win at that style.
So, did Edmonton beat the Kings at their own game Thursday?
“I don’t know if you want to go that far,” cautioned the former King Milan Lucic. “But, we played our game the way we needed to play to win this game.”
Edmonton won the faceoff battle, taking 60 per cent of the draws, and prevailed in a game that was tied 1-1 in the third period — the kind of game where L.A.’s relentless pressure has for so many seasons induced that fatal mistake from the team in blue and orange.
Even the Kings’ head coach sees a difference.
“We played a hell of a hockey team in a tough building. You should give the Oilers a little bit of credit,” he said to reporters wondering about the Kings’ fifth loss in six games. “The Oilers don’t give up much. Their goalie is really in control, there are not a lot of rebounds, and the defence knocks a lot of pucks down around in front of the net.
“They aren’t going to give up a lot of quality from in front of the net.”
Man, there’s a quote you haven’t heard Sutter utter in a long while.
