After a massive win over the Stars on Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers kicked off their four-game road trip with their second matchup of the season against the Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the boys couldn’t keep the winning streak alive, as the last-Sabres got the best of them in a disappointing 3-2 loss at the Keybank Center.
SLUMP BUSTERS FOR A BOTTOM FEEDER
Nothing is more frustrating than watching the Oilers play down to their opponents, but we got another chapter in that same story Monday night in Buffalo. After a fantastic start that saw Edmonton hit the post three times, the boys almost seemed to get deflated or something because they couldn’t get anything to go. Instead of keeping with it, the Oilers gave up costly errors that gave the Sabres the chances they needed to throw counterpunches that would land. Every time Edmonton clawed back, another mistake was around the corner to put them back in a hole. That’s a tough scene for a team that’s supposed to be challenging for the Stanley Cup.
The other problem with this game was that the Oilers couldn’t find a way to keep their win streak alive against a bottom-feeder team amid a six-game losing streak. Instead of keeping the Sabres down on the mat, the Oilers were their first win since February 25th when they eeked out a 3-2 victory over the Ducks. Even though everyone knows there are no layups in an NHL schedule, there are matchups you have to win more often than not, and I’d undoubtedly have the last-place Sabres in a lengthy losing streak on that last. But instead of an “easy” win on the schedule to set the tone for this road trip, the Oilers will look to regroup against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Let’s hope this isn’t a repeat performance of the last time the Oilers started an Eastern road trip against a team outside of the playoffs.
CAN SOMEONE SCORE A GOAL?
For as long as we’ve had the blessing of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the Oilers’ lineup, we’ve been asking for some secondary scoring to support them in the games they can’t score. We’ve had countless combinations of players rotating in and out of the lineup over the years, but none of them not named Zach Hyman have been better than so-so at consistently creating offence. This year is no different. As excited as many of us were for Viktor Arvidsson, Adam Henrique, and Jeff Skinner to sign on as free agents, none of them has lived up to offensive expectations for various reasons, and that’s been tough in tight losses like the one in Buffalo.
We need those three players to step up with goals from time to time when the big dogs can’t, and that hasn’t been the case often enough this season. The same can be said about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who gets plenty of power play opportunities but has yet to really take advantage of that spot. He needs to score if he’s going to get those minutes. But it doesn’t matter who you’re talking about, an argument can probably be made that they need to be better. Outside of Corey Perry, we don’t have bottom-six scoring with any frequency whatsoever, and the Oilers will keep losing hockey games until they can figure out how to solve this problem. At some point, it can’t always be about bringing new players in, can it?
EVAN BOUCHARD IS HEATING UP
After a tough stretch of scoring only a single goal in 14 games, Evan Bouchard is starting to heat up in the offensive zone. The power play marker Bouchard bashed past Luukkonen in the second period was his third goal in the last five games, and it doesn’t take a scientist to figure out how life would get easier if he can start to score consistently. When Dad is at his best, there are very few defencemen in the league who can produce offence the way he can, and there’s no better time for him to get back on track than in the final 20 games. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best is right now.
I’m a big fan of Evan Bouchard, but there’s little doubt that he needs to be better than he has been. We’re all on the same page here. But as we often see with him, how he’s doing offensively can be a big tell of how his overall game is going. When he’s putting up points, the good vibes flow into the defensive side of his game, which shouldn’t be surprising. Confidence with the puck is a huge part of what makes Evan Bouchard a very good hockey player, but sometimes, we underestimate the effect it has on his overall game when the points aren’t coming. All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be surprised if Bouchard’s defensive choices start to improve if goals keep filling the back of the net. Confidence can be a tricky devil in pro sports, and I hope this little run Dad is on can be the start of something.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
. Woulda, shoulda, coulda… I know. But how annoying was it to watch the Oilers hit three posts in the first period? This team is gagging for goals these days, and if there is ever an example of how the offence is a quarter turn off the mark, beating goalies but not the iron pretty much sums things up.
1. Goaltending was a problem again. The rebound on the first Tage Thompson goal was a mess, and it bums me out to see those go in and I’d imagine there are guys on the bench who feel the same. Stuart Skinner needs to be better for more than a game here or there because these .870 save percentage outings won’t cut it.
2. I loved Darnell Nurse’s goal. Instead of trying to make an extra pass or get cute with the puck, Nurse fired a shot through some legs that beat the goaltender down low. It wasn’t a fancy goal but a smart and simple one. More of those, please.
3. With the assist on Nurse’s goal, Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to a 15-game run where he’s produced an outstanding 23 (11G, 12A) points.
4. So, apparently, Mattias Ekholm is battling some kind of core issue, which is why he hasn’t played the last few games, and it’s an injury type that makes me incredibly nervous. I can’t help but think of Martin Havlat from back in the day, who was a fantastic player when he was healthy but could never quite recover from a core issue. Is that the same thing here? I have no idea, but that’s where my brain goes when I hear about core injuries.
5. Just because the Oilers are on a road trip and played earlier than usual doesn’t mean I would forget to tell you that the boys won 55.9% of the faceoffs. Small victories, friends.
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