After a big win Sunday night over the Flames, the Edmonton Oilers got right back to work with their first of two meetings against the New Jersey Devils. Unfortunately, for the third time this season, the Oilers’ win streak ended at two, as the Devils walked away with a 3-0 shutout win.
When you’re heading into the back half of a back-to-back set, the most important the Oilers could do was find a way to get themselves engaged as quickly as possible. Seeing as the Devils’ last game was Friday night in Calgary, you knew they’d have plenty of gas in the tank, and the only way to combat it would be to come up with a quick start. And to their credit, the Oilers hit the ice with plenty of pace but couldn’t convert on any of their multiple chances.
Of course, missing those early opportunities paved the way for the Devils to grab the lead at the other end. Unfortunately, the chance they converted came on the first shot of the game — an Oilers special, as it were — but that’s a different issue altogether. To make matters worse, the lone goal the Devils got came on their first shot of the period, which happened immediately after a high-danger chance by Edmonton at the other end. Miss at one end of the rink, score at the other — it’s a tale as old as time.
The second period wasn’t much kinder to the Oilers either. They handily outplayed the Devils by a wide margin but could not beat Jake Allen despite outshooting New Jersey 10-3 through the frame. Edmonton threw everything they could at Allen, but many of those shots hit him right in the chest. Not to make a joke about the whole thing, but it almost looked like they wasted all of their goals in the two wins over Nashville and Calgary. It was like the Hockey Gords wanted to teach us a lesson of some kind.
Down by two goals with a period to play, the Oilers needed a miracle to climb back into the game. It’s not that they weren’t playing well — they were the better team through 40 minutes — but it felt like one of those nights where nothing was going to go our way despite doing everything right. I was actually confused about whether I should be pissed off by the lack of goals and missed empty nets or impressed by the way the boys effectively limited a very strong New Jersey opponent.
Then again, it’s hard to feel very good about getting shut out in your own building, regardless of how well you played. I know the underlying numbers were strong, and the expected goals were tilted in Edmonton’s favour, but none of that matters if you can’t score. Even though we appreciate the effort and hustle, silver linings don’t pay the mortgage, especially when trying to claw your way back up the standings. *sigh*
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING…
- Stefan Noesen opened the scoring (1-0) at the 5:18 mark with a shot from the slot that squeaked through Pickard, who had all kinds of traffic near the crease. I thought the Oilers might challenge the play at first, given how tight everything was to the edge of the crease, but it was not meant to be. Maybe that’s just me not understanding the goalie interference rule anymore, I suppose. Noesen later extended New Jersey’s lead (2-1) on the power play after getting his stick on what I can only describe as a free look from the slot for Jesper Bratt that eventually slithered through Pickard before trickling into the net. I. Hate. The. Oilers. Penalty. Kill.
- Timo Meier threw a handful of sand in our eyes with New Jersey’s third goal (3-0) that came on the back of an alley oop pass by Dawson Mercer that put the streaking forward in alone. Once he was behind the defencemen, Meier made a nifty move to his backhand that beat Pickard as he was trying to slide to his blocker side.
- Calvin Pickard was back between the pipes for the first time since his win in Nashville last week, and he was tasked with backstopping the Oilers to their first win on night two of a back-to-back this season. It was not meant to be, however, as Pickard surrender three goals on only 16 shots against. To defend him a little bit, I thought goals two and three were more a product of sloppy coverage than anything he did wrong, but that’s also me being generous. How else would you describe 13 saves and a .813 save%. Oilers outshot Devils 31-16 but lose 3-0. Whomp whomp.
- How many empty nets did Edmonton miss? My unofficial count was three, but I could be wrong. Let me know in the comments.
- In case you were wondering, the Oilers dominated the underlying numbers as shown by the 65.36 CF% and 68.9 xGF%. Spreadsheets don’t pay the mortgage, though. Maybe one day.
- I wish I was smarter so I could find better words to describe just how much I despise the Oilers’ penalty kill. They only had to face a single shorthanded situation but gave up a goal so quickly I don’t know that people even had time to be nervous about how they’d blow it.
- I also wish I could describe my dismay about the Oilers’ power play struggles. If you had asked me for a list of issues this team would have this year, the power play probably wouldn’t have been on it, but that’s where we’re at after another 0/1 result with the man advantage.
- Even though the game was on Amazon Prime doesn’t mean that I forgot to tell you that the Oilers won only 48.9% of the faceoffs.
