Usually, when you’ve played 15 games in less than 30 days to start the season, rest is a good thing. Three days of rest is supposed to be a chance to catch your breath, nurse ailments, and team-build. The hope for the Edmonton Oilers was that, after starting 6–5–4 and somehow being tied for third place in the Pacific on Wednesday morning despite obvious flaws in their game, rest would get this team playing better.
That notion died 13 minutes and 29 seconds into the first period. Colorado Avalanche Forward Cale Makar snapped a wicked wrist shot past a screened Stuart Skinner, and things unraveled from there. Every flaw the Oilers had coming into this game came home to roost just like the farm’s chickens. Nothing was good about this game, nobody deserves praise. The goaltenders will not be spared either, but solely blaming this loss on goaltending is a fool’s errand. This was 20 no-shows who mentally forgot they had a Hockey Night in Canada game to be at. Even the Sportsnet scorebug didn’t show up for the start of the third period, apropos of the night as a whole.
Oilers lose 9–1. They are Alexander, so here’s the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day game story.
The Oilers have maybe been unlucky, but fully earned this loss
Through 15 games this season, the Oilers had 26 goals for and 31 goals against. Their expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck, sat at 49.91 percent. This suggests they were maybe a bit unlucky, but still not really controlling the goal share. Mid-tier, just like their 14th-place position in that category implied. Colorado, by comparison, came in at 59.97 percent, over a full 10 percentage points higher.
This should have been a glaring warning sign, as indeed, it was a harbinger of doom. The Avs ate the Oilers’ lunch in this game, then pants’ed them and stuffed them in a school locker for good measure. This wasn’t a 50–50 battle in which Edmonton had zero breaks go their way. Bob Stauffer, as early as the second Makar goal, was noting on the 880 CHED feed that the Oilers were not doing the little things right, like avoiding unnecessary icings. Sportsnet Colour Commentator Louie DeBrusk pointed out lost board battles, separately. And on the 3–0 goal, for example, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak both completely forgot Gavin Brindley existed, and an initial Skinner save could not be properly dealt with as a result.
The Oilers played nowhere close to good hockey tonight. Just focusing on the skaters, all 18 of them did nothing to contribute to a winning brand of hockey in this one. And in case you’re wondering about the expected goals and “Deserve-to-win-o-meter“… they ain’t pretty either.
This team lacks chemistry in dire ways
Skinner was beaten three times in the first period, and two of those he could shoulder some blame for. One of those two didn’t count, as it was wiped off the board due to a missed Colorado offside. So just one mistake that actually hurt the team, which isn’t out of the ordinary for most goalies.
Early in the second, Skinner made a tremendous shoulder save on Artturi Lehkonen, taking away what probably should have been a 3–0 goal. That, according to DeBrusk, gave the bench life, and should have been a turning point in the game. Any team with good chemistry would go to war for their goalie the rest of the night, following a save like that.
Instead, there was no offensive pushback. The 3–0 goal and requisite Nurse-Kulak error happened not all that long afterward. The goalie stole one for the team and atoned for his earlier mistake, and what was the response? Meek.
Much has been made in some circles about this Oilers team “playing scared” in front of their goaltenders. That the players fear their teammates in the crease can’t bail them out if they make a mistake. That notion is also dead, or rather an inaccurate representation of facts. This team failed to show up for their goalie who started the second period on time. They failed to show up for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the only two Oiler point-getters on this night who cashed in on a power play just seven seconds into it.
There was no chemistry, no “I got your back” mentality on this night. And there needs to be some developed moving forward. It is an absolute, not an ask, to have everyone on the team playing for each other.
Bet like a pro here with Bet99—Ontario’s go-to for elite odds and nonstop action. And outside Ontario, Canadians bet better here with Bet99—bringing top-tier odds and action from coast to coast.
The folks who preached .900 goaltending were right all along
Following the 3–2 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks a week ago, Skinner sat at a 2.52 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage (shown below). The Oilers owned a 6–4–3 record; not wowing, but still markedly improved from the past two season starts. The Oilers’ big problem this season has been lack of consistent goal scoring. Yet, as will be the case for time eternal, the losses were apparently Skinner not being good enough.
Online denizens, in the previous two earlyseason slogs, preached that the Oilers would win with .900 goaltending. And in this game, we got a look tonight at what neither netminder offering .900 goaltending looks like. It’s safe to say those comments of past seasons have been vindicated.
Skinner provided .900 goaltending, or at least very close to it, against Dallas earlier in the week. It stole the Oilers a shootout point in a game where the team looked lethargic and gassed. Tonight, he could not offer the same stuff, and as a result, goaltending did not mask the fact the Oilers scored just one power play goal all game; it compounded the problem.
If you must know stats, Skinner was pulled after giving up four goals on 13 shots. Calvin Pickard came in and continued his personal rough start to the campaign, allowing five goals on 21 shots. Neither save percentage started with an eight, let alone a nine. Neither goalie was locked in on this night.
That said, let this be a message to follow for the rest of the season: a goalie who plays to a .900 save percentage is what the Oilers need. A better goalie is always welcome, sure, but if Skinner can offer you .900 regularly, this game notwithstanding, it ought to be enough to win. The offence has more slack to pick up than the current 1A ‘tender in Edmonton.
Burn the tape, forget tonight happened, look ahead to Monday
There’s not much else you can really do. In years past, a bag-skate would be in order for this day in-between home games, following an outing like that. But with that becoming somewhat of a unicorn in the modern NHL, the next best thing is to turn to the Men In Black franchise.
To paraphrase a Portugal. The Man lyric, you come back Sunday morning, and practice well. Then you go play against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. That too will be a nationally-televised game, albeit on Amazon Prime. Let’s not talk about how the Oilers did on Prime last season.
Let’s just hope, this time around, the results are kinder than previous results.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
4 Comments