The Edmonton Oilers entered Sunday’s game in Ottawa fresh off a 6–3 loss in Toronto on Saturday night, in an affair where they were outclassed at every level through 40 minutes before their comeback attempt fell short. In the game in the nation’s capital, Zach Hyman once again had a chance to get to 50 goals.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators were fresh off a 5–2 win over the New Jersey Devils at home on Saturday, flying back from Newark for their back-to-back, while Edmonton had the short trip from Toronto. The Oilers were going with Calvin Pickard, who relieved Stuart Skinner for the final 20 minutes on Saturday, while the Senators countered with Joonas Korpisalo.
Edmonton scores first
Evan Bouchard walks the line, drawing two men to him while leaving Mattias Ekholm a wide open lane to walk in. There’s traffic in front, with Korpisalo looking to the short side. Ekholm fakes then walks further down the lane, getting Korpisalo to bite into a slide. At this point, Adam Henrique has a wide open net after Ekholm finds him on the back door even though it goes off his skate.
Ottawa ties it up
Darnell Nurse gets caught high, with Vincent Desharnais laying on the ice to try to cut down the pass. Drake Batherson is able to saucer it over and get it to Jakob Chychrun for the one timer. Pickard makes an attempt for the pass, taking his momentum away from the push, and doesn’t get a push in once he does get turned around, instead trying to knee shuffle across the net but is beat high.
Edmonton regains the lead
Bouchard holds the puck long enough to draw Korpisalo to the top of the crease, who never fully sets. When the pass goes down to Leon Draisaitl for the one-timer, Korpisalo is late and seems lack urgency for a play he would have seen frequently in the L.A. series as it beats him to the short side.
Hyman gets his 50th goal
Connor McDavid gets the puck, and Korpisalo is drifting towards him with no set or regard for the backdoor. The pass lane is pretty open, making Zach Hyman’s as easy as it possibly could be with Korpisalo taking himself out of the play.
The Senators score
Tim Stutzle shoots short side on a two-on-one, but this is a horrible goal by Pickard. He isn’t square to the puck and shuffling over, instead staying square to the far end. He’s also behind the angle as he does this, leaving the short side wide open to the point that any reaction won’t be able to catch up.
Ottawa ties it again
Brady Tkachuk gets the puck to Batherson, but he’s shooting from just off the dot so it’s not the most dangers shot location. However, it looks like the Senators figured out one of Pickard’s weaknesses, as the top corner shot eludes Pickard. This happens because he’s so bent over at the hips causing his body to be forced to react backwards when he drops into the butterfly, which leads to his gloves chasing blindly over his pads.
Ottawa leads late in the third
There are multiple Oilers defenders commited to the ice, with none of them actually taking away the slot line pass to Chychrun. I have no explanation for what Pickard is trying to do on the play. He starts extremely narrow and bent over at the hips, which takes away his ability to rotate or push into a slide. This results in a hop step that transitions into kind of flopping to the ice.
Do the Oilers still have a goaltender issue?
The Oilers weren’t great on Sunday, but they probably deserved a better result than what they got. The Jack Campbell contract has forced the Oilers into a situation where they’re playing a goalie who has been a career AHLer to this point in regular starts as they rest Stuart Skinner. The Senators offence was potent enough to expose that, leading to a regulation loss for the Oilers on the second part of the back to back.
