Howlin' Hockey
Fansided

Oliver Ekman-Larsson: Is He Mr. Overtime?

By Catherine Silverman

facebooktwitterreddit

Oliver Ekman-Larsson is now “Mr. Overtime”

Which, when you think about it, is really just a super polite nickname for “Mr. Heart Attack”.

More from Coyotes News

I’m serious. Overtime hockey always makes me vaguely sick to my stomach, which inevitably led to me essentially developing a stress-induced six pack during the Stanley Cup Final this spring. Overtime hockey should be avoided at all costs, unless you’re the team that sneaks in the extra goal right before regulation ends (then it’s okay, because you’ve effectively gone from zero points to at least one point. I’m getting off topic.).

Anyways.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson now has three — yes, THREE — overtime, game-winning goals this season, the most recent coming on Tuesday night with his wrister that settled in behind Ben Scrivens with .3 seconds left on the clock.

Should we be happy about this, or concerned that he’s operating on a do-or-die plane?

For starters, let’s be thankful he’s even scoring.

Dec 16, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; The scoreboard shows the time left in overtime after a goal by Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) to beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Oliver Ekman-Larsson is officially high on my list of players who get A Free Pass this season because he’s third in goals scored on the team right now. This is upsetting for a number of reasons (the first of which being that HE’S A DEFENSEMAN, SO WHERE ARE THE FORWARDS AND WHY ARE THEY NOT SCORING TOO), but ultimately the Coyotes should take what they can get.

It’s also nice that OEL keeps scoring these overtime winners, because I think he’s well aware that the team is conspicuously short on guys who know how to score in the shootout — so by keeping the team relegated to overtime, Ekman-Larsson is essentially saving the team. That, I believe, is what they refer to as ‘battle level’.

We also have to keep in mind that not every player gets a chance to skate during the five minutes of overtime, so OEL is essentially branding himself as the overtime scorer of the four guys usually on the ice for what seems like the entire overtime period. I would prefer it was Tobias Rieder, but really, OEL needs to salvage his good name in the face of a couple really nasty turnovers this fall.

Moving on.

On the other hand, he’s not scoring much more in regulation, so there’s that.

I should be more upset about this than anything else, because this team has a serious lack of motivation for a consistent sixty minutes of hockey. If I had a dollar for every time the team chose to float around in a haze for forty-five minutes and then manically scramble to score in the final fifteen, I’d basically be able to retire quietly to Manitoba in my very own Travis Hamonic-esque log cabin.

Live Feed

Three Bargain Unrestricted Free Agent Targets for the New York Rangers
Three Bargain Unrestricted Free Agent Targets for the New York Rangers /

Blue Line Station

  • Fitting Oliver Ekman-Larsson into the NY Islanders LineupEyes On Isles
  • Should the Boston Bruins pursue Oliver Ekman-Larsson?Causeway Crowd
  • Columbus Blue Jackets FanSided AMA: June 2023Union and Blue
  • The Case for Tampa Bay Lightning Signing Oliver Ekman-LarssonBolts by the Bay
  • NHL Rumors: Karlsson, Hanifin request trades, Meier back with DevilsFanSided

    • I would say that we should all applaud Mr. Overtime for his fabulous work ethic in those final five minutes, but let’s be serious here — if he (and the rest of the team) pushed a little harder in regulation, they wouldn’t need to go into overdrive in the final seconds. The other team wouldn’t earn that extra point, and the Coyotes would be higher in the standings.

    Just think about that — with three overtime goals (but no regulation goals in any of those games), OEL is basically ensuring that three separate teams are one point higher than they would have been if he’d scored just five minutes earlier.

    THE AGONY.

    Finally, we have to consider that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is doing the job that some of the team’s other players really should be, and therefore we aren’t noticing when they sort of vanish on the ice nearly as much.

    Martin Erat? Where has he been lately? The only guy who has been more frustrating to watch this season than Erat has been Sam Gagner, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s fabulous overtime prowess is overshadowing the fact that both of these skaters were essentially picked up to be the pinch-hit scorers that Arizona needed.

    Ultimately, we should be happy that he’s scoring — but Mr. Overtime can’t conceal the underlying issues behind why’s he’s scoring so much in overtime in the first place.

    More from Howlin' Hockey

    Home/Coyotes News