Goals have been hard to come by this season for the Edmonton Oilers. They are somehow 4–4–2 despite scoring more than three times in a game exactly once, last week against Montreal. For a team that has long been engineered around offence, this is a concerning trend.
Perhaps most concerning of all is both Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard are stuck on one goal apiece, each having only recently scored. Apart from Leon Draisaitl and (to a lesser extent) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the big guns haven’t found twine. This, among other things, has to change for the Oilers to get back on track, and be themselves again.
What do they need to do to maintain consistent offensive output? Here’s a few ideas. We’ll look at what went right against the Montreal Canadiens, and what’s gone wrong elsewhere.
Pucks need to be put on net more consistently
This missing detail from the Oilers’ game reached a nadir against the Detroit Red Wings. That afternoon, Edmonton managed just 18 shots on goaltender John Gibson, and frankly was lucky to keep it within reach. 18 shots per game isn’t going to cut it; 25 doesn’t even do half the time.
Beyond simple numbers, the Oilers are too pass-happy so far this season. There have been several opportunities where McDavid, and other forwards, could just take a shot, but instead defer. Passing those opportunities off not only catch teammates unprepared, but allow defencemen who are taking away the passing lanes to easily intercept the puck.
To pull from Letterkenny, the Oilers need to be a bit more like the characters Jonesy and Reilly. Play more selfish hockey; a shot from anywhere is never a bad idea. Obviously, don’t fully get away from the passing game, but be willing to accept a scoring chance when given the opportunity, rather than force a feed to a teammate.
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Much more traffic in front of the goaltender
Missing from the Oilers game, as well, is a lack of net-front traffic. This will also feed into the third point this observer will make, but let’s focus this on a goalie’s perspective. Most times, if an NHL goalie can see a shot, they’ll be in position to make the save. Players have to be willing to get into the face of opposing goalies, take away their vision, and tap home rebounds.
Corey Perry did this well last year, scoring a healthy amount of his 19 regularseason and 10 playoff goals by being a hard-nosed, immovable beast in front of the net with an instinct to spot, and tap home, loose pucks. Zach Hyman is also a net-front dynamo, and his presence is sorely missed. This needs to be a mentality more Oilers adopt. Here’s an example of good net-front work from Vasily Podkolzin:
Shooting pucks is half the battle; having the forwards prevent a goalie from knowing where the puck is is the other half. There’s not enough commotion in the offensive zone for Edmonton right now. Changing that has to be a priority.
Find ways to get into the slot areas
When the Oilers are clicking offensively, often it’s not via the rush that they’re cashing in. Edmonton thrives on getting into the middle of the offensive zone, aka the “slot” area. So far this season, there have been too few goals from that area.
Here’s one of those few: the Darnell Nurse goal from the Saturday night game against the Seattle Kraken. Nurse uses his offensive strengths to navigate through the lower half of the zone, right in front of goaltender Joey Daccord. He not only applies a moving screen on Daccord, but deflects the puck past the Kraken netminder.
Too many times this season, Edmonton tries to force home a goal, and hasn’t looked particularly lethal in-tight. More of the forwards following Nurse’s lead would certainly lead to a few more goals for. What won’t work is waiting for the goalie to make a mistake.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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