With the NHL Trade Deadline having come and gone, it was time for the Edmonton Oilers to play some more hockey last night. Taking on the Carolina Hurricanes, the Oilers had plenty of reason to believe in a solid result for this game. They beat the ‘Canes in Overtime in Raleigh earlier this season, for starters. Plus, after two different trades with the Chicago Blackhawks this week, they got better on the defensive side of things.
The Hurricanes, however, are still a dynamo this season, leading the Eastern Conference standings at present. They didn’t need to add much at the deadline, and they don’t need extra motivators because Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour does that well on his own. This isn’t a game the Oilers could just March into, and assume they’ll win handily.
The one certainty as of late seems to be spotting the other team multi-goal leads. Which, the trade deadline did not immediately help the Oilers eradicate from their system. Carolina led twice by two goals in this one, and despite another late push by Edmonton, it was too little too late. Another subpar performance by the Oilers on their end of the ice leaves them with a tough result, and it was pretty deserved.
Oilers lose 6–3.
4–3 with an empty-netter and a stat-pad-time tally, but those details don’t matter much. A regulation loss is a regulation loss, and the Oilers can’t afford many more of them. Here’s the game story.
Scoring first doesn’t matter anymore, it would seem
The first goal of the game is supposed to be the most critical. It sets the tone, and forces the other team to play from behind, and possibly make more mistakes. Earlier on in the season, first goals were everything for the Oilers.
Good news! Edmonton scored first in this one off of a true beauty. Sweet sauce from Connor McDavid that has donair shop owners salivating, and an excellent finish from Zach Hyman, makes it 1–0 hosts. Following a big opening save by Tristan Jarry, that’s a great start.
The problem is that that lead didn’t even last a full minute. Shayne Gostisbehere, who got nicked up prior to this moment, managed to get that goal back. That would be pretty much the last we saw of Gostisbehere as he exited due to injury, but he made sure to inflict damage on the scoreboard first.
This is the second time post-Olympic break that the Oilers have scored first, and it’s mattered none. That happened against the Ducks as well. The Oilers have to do a much better job at not only getting the lead early, but making it hold up.
Jarry’s night started horrid, but he got better deeper into the game
To be fair to Jarry, one of the opening three goals against wasn’t really on him. Darnell Nurse is having such a rough go of it right now, he’s a negative puck magnet to boot. The 2–1 ‘Canes tally deflected off his pants and into the net. When it rains, it pours so much that the Whitemud Drive underpasses fill up with water. That’s what the Darnell Nurse experience is like right now.
Poor rebound control was Jarry’s undoing on the third Carolina goal. After an initial save, Jordan Martinook managed to knock it home on the second effort. Also involved in the play was another Jordan, that being the captain, Jordan Staal. A Staal on Carolina has been tormenting the Oilers, between Eric and Jordan combined, for two decades now. Will the pain and suffering ever end?
After that goal, however, Jarry would stop everything that came his way up until a delayed-penalty 6-on-5 goal which we’ll get to in a moment. But the goaltending issues still remain, and may actually be worse now. This observer will not say anything else beyond that, due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
For his part, while Jarry felt his game was better on this night, he still admitted that there’s “room to improve,” and he can “do a better (job) of putting the team in a better spot.” The starter role should still belong to Ingram, in the interim. But at least there’s a sense Jarry can still handle the lesser competition that the Oilers still have to face.
Can’t keep falling behind by multiple goals deep into games
Credit to Edmonton, they tried showing up sooner than Period three in this one. Vasily Podkolzin placed a perfect sharp-angle shot over the shoulder of Frederik Andersen, with Kasperi Kapanen providing the distraction in front. This came in the second period, so the Oilers still had half the game to play a better brand of hockey.
Off of a delayed penalty in the third period, however, Jackson Blake managed an excellent wrist shot that found its way through traffic. That restored the Canes’ two-goal lead they had previously enjoyed. Moreover, it ended up standing as the game-winner.
Even though a second Zach Hyman goal would be cashed in via the power play, the Oilers couldn’t complete the comeback this time like they did three nights ago. Comebacks aren’t reliable ways of winning. That Blake goal ended up being a crushing one to allow, as it put too much pressure on the Oilers once again. This has to cease at some point.
Checking in on the ex-Blackhawks trio after their first game as Oilers
None of the three players the Oilers acquired this week got onto the scoresheet, which was to be expected. The Blackhawks are not a high-octane team outside of Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, and none of Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, or Colton Dach are major scoring threats. The first two, especially, were brought in for defence.
A point goes to Dickinson, then, for his debut, as he finished a plus-1 despite the Oilers having six hung on them. Murphy and Dach, however, combined to go minus-5. Murphy was a minus-2 for the first-period quick strikes, and seemed to settle in somewhat as the game wore on. As for Dach, we may need to wait until next year, and see if fellow pundits are on to something, as it pertains to optimal deployment of the player.
On to Vegas, in the meantime. Lose that game on Sunday, and the Division title hopes are all but erased. Worse, playoffs become an even more perilous matter. That game is as must-win as they come.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
Interested in joining our writing or social media team? Apply here.
