Trying to move on from a high-flying throwback the previous game, the Edmonton Oilers were in Tampa Bay last night to take on the Lightning. The Bolts had a slow start to the 2025–26 season, but have since rebounded. Coming in having won nine of 12, they were set to make sure this would not be an easy contest for Edmonton. The Oilers themselves continue to be beleaguered, albeit in the defensive end now instead of the offensive one.
If you loved seeing nine non-empty net goals on Wednesday night, this was not the game for you. An early tally by Trent Frederic would account for all of the offence for 57 and a half minutes in this game. It wasn’t for lack of trying, as this game had lots of action going both ways. But this game was also intense, physical, and extremely hard-fought in contrast to the finesse-filled skill show against the Washington Capitals.
Just as it looked like the Oilers would be headed to a 1–0 victory, Nick Paul fought through heavy traffic and tucked one past goaltender Calvin Pickard to make it a 1–1 game and send it to overtime. Adding insult to injury, Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy saved his most tremendous stuff for “Overtime” Jack Roslovic, and off the ensuing Bolts rush, Jake Guentzel won it in overtime. Heartbreak, and just one standings point instead of two.
2–1, Tampa wins in overtime. Oilers can’t buy a win on the second half of a back-to-back. Here’s the game story.
In which Trent Frederic gets the monkey off his back
Frederic has taken just about as much heat as city planners who map out Edmonton construction plans annually. His play has not been up to any sort of good standard so far in 2025. His stats all but confirm that as fact (one goal instead of two before tonight):
All it took, it seems, was putting him up with Leon Draisaitl to get things going in a positive direction. It was a Draisaitl feed that set up this early strike, 1:32 into the contest. You think Frederic’s relieved? Sure looks like it.
The common refrain is that, when a player is fighting it offensively, it just takes one going in, to turn the tides. It apparently, as per the broadcast, took Frederic going back to a previous type of stick he used. Either way, if this is the start of a turnaround for Frederic, it is long overdue. Here’s hoping that’s the case.
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Pickard’s first great game of the season, when it was needed most
Pickard has had several rough starts so far this season, with just two wins as a result. One win was the 6–5 barn-burner against the Montreal Canadiens earlier this year. The other was when the Oilers held the Vancouver Canucks to under 20 shots all game. With Stuart Skinner being well off his game Wednesday night compared to the previous three, Pickard needed to step up his game at all costs.
Step it up he did. Particularly in the second and third periods, he was unbeatable, as if he had the same pre-game routine as Vasilevskiy. You could have told this observer the starting goalies in this one were Evgeni Nabokov and Dwayne Roloson, and successfully fooled said observer.
Pickard’s finest work came in the third period. This save might be his best of the whole season so far:
The Oilers losing this game is not at all Pickard’s fault, a rare time that that has been said this year. He finished with 33 saves, a .943 save percentage, and the ability to say he earned this standings point for the Oilers. A win would have been nice, but you’ll take something over nothing any day of the week.
The defence played alright but had a rough night physically
The caveat in this subsection is that there was some tail-off by the defence in the third period. But for the most part, they played alright, albeit taking their lumps along the way.
Jake Walman especially got put through the wringer in this one. First, he took a massive hit from as-tall-as-Zdeno-Chara forward Curtis Douglas, knocking him out of the game for a brief spell. Later, he would block a painful shot that sent him off for some more attention. Oh, and after the hit he took, Darnell Nurse got taken out until the midway point of the game, as he decided to fight Douglas. Hard agree with analyst Louie DeBrusk here: Both willingly dropped their gloves here. This should not have gotten Nurse dinged for an instigator penalty.
Alec Regula was the victim of an even more brutal shot block, taking one up in the head area. Hopefully he’ll be okay after taking that puck up high.
And then Brett Kulak, while not being the recipient of physical damage, was the main culprit on the Paul game-tying goal. He did not react to cut Paul off at the pass, letting Paul walk out in front for the chance.
It wasn’t a perfect game played by the defence, but far improved, play-wise, from the outing against the Washington Capitals. Now if only they could not get so banged-up. There’s still one more game left in this road trip, and the team is already operating 11 forwards-7 defencemen out of necessity. Bubble wrap, please.
Player perspective
“It’s not the easiest back-to-back, coming from Washington (to Tampa), but… I feel like we like to do things the hard way, and right from the get-go, we had a good game.” -Calvin Pickard
The finish line of the road trip is in sight, but it will end with a bang
One more to go, friends. One more road game on this two-week-long trip, as the Oilers head over to Sunrise, and take on the Florida Panthers. It will surely be emotional, feisty, and also an opportunity for the Oilers to finish the trip strong.
The Panthers are down a lot of key players. For Edmonton, they can’t take their foot off the gas. Give this game everything you have, then go home and get a bit of rest. Start time, once more, will be five PM here at home.
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