Depending on who you ask, some people will say that Jack didn't have the greatest start to his time with the Oilers on Wednesday night. But to be fair, I can't really fault Jack on the three goals against. I mean the first goal happens because Dylan Holloway throws a sick dish to Elias Petterson, who then shoots it on Jack. Jack makes the initial save, but the puck is sitting behind him, and Petterson is able to shovel the puck home. I mean, how can you blame Jack when that entire play is caused by Holloway making a rookie mistake.
The 2nd goal, I can kind of see an argument for, but at the same time, JT Miller isn't some bum and has a decent shot. I think Jack played it perfectly. He came out, cut down the angle as best as he could, and it didn't help that the Oilers defence were just letting JT Miller walk in. It was an elite shot, and we've seen player do this numerous times.
As for the 3rd goal, Jack had no chance. On a Vancouver powerplay, JT Miller finds Andrei Kuzmenko back door, uncontested mind you, and Kuzmenko isn't going to miss than open net. And let's be honest, it was a silly penalty for Darnell Nurse to take (he got called for Interference at the end of the 1st, which is why the Canucks were on the powerplay).
After that 3rd goal went in, Jack shut it down completely. Sure he got lucky on a few chances that ended up missing the net for the Canucks, but when he was called upon to make a save, Jack was there to make it. Jack's best save of the night, and the one I deemed was a momentum changing save for Edmonton, came off of a JT Miller breakaway. During (another) Canucks powerplay, Quinn Hughes found an opening in the Oilers PK formation, and sent a nice saucer pass to JT Miller who got in behind the Oilers defencemen. Now thankfully, they were close enough so that Miller didn't have enough time to try and deke, but he still has an elite shot, and so he takes it. Jack stands his ground, doesn't budge, and makes the blocker save, keeping Edmonton only down by 1. THAT was the game-changing save Edmonton needed.
But apparently, Jack thought making saves wasn't enough to endear himself to the Oilers crowd. Oh no, no, no, no. He also figured he'd better lay a hit. With 11:35 left in the 3rd, the scored knotted at three apiece, Canucks forward Dakota Joshua attempts to chase down a puck that is rolling towards Campbell. Dakota is also in a footrace with Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who is also chasing the puck. Jack makes the risky goalie play of skating out to meet the puck before Dakota can grab it. And not only does Jack get the puck first and clear it away, but he also bodychecks Dakota, getting a massive cheer from the crowd.
Jack Campbell finished the night with 33 saves on 36 shots, a .917sv%. As I said above, Jack Campbell was probably the biggest reason why the Oilers won that game. Sure having the powerplay go 3/4 (75%) and the PK going 7/8 (87%) helps, but the Oilers were sloppy, undisciplined, lazy, and all sorts of negative words to describe their performance. Jack had to keep the Oilers in the game, and he did. And even after Edmonton found their legs, starting playing, and actually competing, Jack was there to keep the door shut and win the game.
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