Jordan Oesterle, an outsider early this season, now was simply outnumbered. Three Winnipeg Jets stormed into Blackhawks territory last Friday night at the United Center, intent on tying a tight game.
Oesterle, the lone defender between them and goalie Jeff Glass, retreated carefully, staking out the middle as Kyle Connor cradled the puck on the right.
"He's a left shot, on his offside, so I tried to bait him into passing it across (to Dustin Byfuglien)," recalled Oesterle. "I wasn't too concerned about the trailing guy (Josh Morrissey). I just tried to stay patient. If I commit too soon to Connor, he'll just pass it. As we got down low, with less space available, I slid toward him with my stick extended in front of me, basically covering maybe a 12-foot area, including my body."
Deftly, Oesterle whisked the puck out of danger, stifling the rush. Moments later, Jan Rutta scored what would be the winning goal in a 2-1 victory.
Verdict: Offensively-minded Oesterle's time has come
"Play of the game by Jordan," noted Glass, the evening's first star. "I've got to play it like a 2-on-1 and be ready for the shot. Because of him, there was none."
Every day, you and I get older. But every day, the Blackhawks seem to get younger. Last July 1, Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman hired Oesterle, an unrestricted free agent. The Blackhawks still rely on a famous veteran core. However, more than half the roster is comprised of players 25 or younger. Oesterle, 25, fit right in. Just not right away.
Oesterle played in just four of the team's 29 starts. A healthy scratch, itching to suit up.
"I came here, not so much because of the contract, but because I liked their style and thought I could compete for a job," said Oesterle. "Sometimes you get frustrated, but I don't think I deserved to have a reason why I wasn't playing. There's a lot of talent here. The coaches kept saying my time would come."
After cameo appearances, Oesterle fully emerged from mothballs on Dec. 10, when he joined the lineup against the Arizona Coyotes. He logged 20 minutes, 18 seconds. Since then, his time has kept coming. He's evolved from being the invisible man to the marathon man, skating as much as 26:03 against the Minnesota Wild last week. That was even more than his customary partner, the great Duncan Keith, speaking of tireless types.
"Pretty amazing, what he's done," Keith said. "To miss as many games as he has, then come out and play so well with all that confidence."
Oesterle returns the volley.
"Being paired with someone like Dunc has helped my confidence," he said. "He's very vocal out there, he calms me down and I know he's always going to be in the right place. If I had started the year with him, because of who he is, I might have been a little bit in awe. You know, defer to Dunc. Defer. Defer. But you realize all the superstars around here are just regular guys. He is very funny off the ice. Unique. I enjoy him."
Oesterle grew up in Michigan and, like teammate Alex DeBrincat, he is a recovering Detroit Red Wings fan. Oesterle attended Western Michigan University and signed with the Edmonton Oilers. But after going back and forth between the National Hockey League - just 25 games - and hockey hinterlands like Bakersfield, Cal., Oesterle deduced that it was "time to go."
His sister, Nicole, used to work in Chicago and his brother, Kyle, still does. So Jordan is familiar with the city and he caught a few games at the United Center when the Blackhawks were winning three Stanley Cups inside six years. An excellent skater, Oesterle was taken by Head Coach Joel Quenneville's fiat that defensemen trigger the forwards instead of observing them from a distance.
The NHL is about speed now, and the days of a lumbering rearguard chained to the blue line are passé. Being a left shot, as is Keith, poses no problem for Oesterle either. As property of the Oilers, he was accustomed to playing the right side. For the offensively inclined such as Oesterle, the angles - except in tight quarters along the boards - are actually better to partake of the action.
"Obviously, this is where I want to be," said Oesterle. "But I've only put together a string of a few games. It's not a season. It's certainly not a career. I'm just trying to prove I belong."
