Vasily Podkolzin sends message on Oilers' star players, shows frustration with slow start
Photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing - Imagn Images
Following his team's loss last night against Buffalo, forward Vasily Podkolzin expressed his frustration surrounding the treatment of Oilers' star-players by the opposition.
Podkolzin defends team's leaders in chippy affair
It's hard to say right now. We better figure it out, how to win games. As soon as possible. We're not happy with what's going on right now.
Not much to say here, but no one can play against our leaders like that. We'll protect, the whole team will protect them for sure.
- Vasily Podkolzin
Not much to say here, but no one can play against our leaders like that. We'll protect, the whole team will protect them for sure.
- Vasily Podkolzin
And it wasn't just words that Vasily was dishing-out to demonstrate his frustration. At the end of the 2nd-period, he went toe-to-toe with Buffalo's Peyton Kreb, showing he'd finally had enough of Sabres' players attacking McDavid.
Trouble is, he didn't get any help from his teammates, in terms of both offense and aggression. The Oilers had only five high-danger scoring chances all night to Buffalo's 14, and allowed 35 scoring chances against in total.
When the Oilers' game-plan is to rely on McDavid and Draisaitl to score goals and get points every night, you can see why it's imperative that their teammates discourage any rough-play against them.
Perhaps that in itself is the telling issue with this Oilers' club, not enough push-back and team intensity. It's been noticeable to this point in the season and teams are now picking-up on it.
Good for Vasily for stepping-up, then. But others also need to raise their level of intensity and out-hit the opposition, making it difficult to play against in the corners and along the boards.
At the beginning of the year, analyst Sean Panganiban wrote about how a successful season for Podkolzin would be for him to lead the Oilers in hits.
With last night's fight, he is clearly doing his part.
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