Edmonton Oilers: Eberle Struggles, Larsson Shines in Loss to Rangers

After a hot start to the season, the Edmonton Oilers seem to be back to their losing ways, but this time, things are different.

Despite a stronger all-around effort from the Oilers, they fell 5-3 to the New York Rangers Thursday.

Game Rewind

Edmonton started off the game with momentum. They made the most of their double-minor power play, getting pucks to the net and creating opportunities. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his first of the season off a feed from Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle. However, the lead wouldn’t last long, and Kevin Hayes would tie the game soon after. They would head into the intermission with the score knotted at one.

In the second period, Jesse Puljujarvi made an unbelievable play on an Edmonton 2-on-1. He held onto the puck and skated around one of the Rangers’ defensemen, who had completely fallen over. Puljujarvi remained with the play and made a quick pass on the fly to Patrick Maroon, who stuffed the puck past Lundqvist. Unfortunately, that lead wouldn’t last long, either, as Michael Grabner would even it up five minutes later.

The third period was full of chances, but Lundqvist was sharp between the pipes. At the tail-end of an Oilers’ power play, defenseman Adam Larsson scored on a wicked drive from the point, taking the late lead. Forty-one seconds later, though, Jesper Fast evened the score on a deflection try.

With a minute left in regulation, the Oilers broke down a bit defensively. Rick Nash scored with a little over 70 seconds left, taking a late 4-3 lead, and J.T. Miller put the nail in the coffin with a 200-foot long empty net goal.

Player of the Game

Takeaways

This Was a Good Game

Sure, the result wasn’t what the Oilers wnated, but they put up a tough match against one of the top teams in the NHL. New York has a lot of scoring and talent, and they are a big, tough team to play against. Edmonton didn’t play poorly, and looked to have good effort. There were just a few things they could have improved on.

Jordan Eberle Played a Rough Game

Though he had an assist, Eberle did not look good at all Thursday. In fact, he was a minus-4, and often times, lost his battles on the ice. He struggled to maintain possession and didn’t put in a strong effort on the backcheck. Often times, he looked weak and seemed to struggle on the first line.

Despite his struggles, the entire first line looked a bit slugglish as well. McDavid was a minus-3, as was Milan Lucic, and the entire line didn’t seem able to produce much. Obviously, it may be time for a line change, and perhaps McDavid needs to be tried with different forwards.

Larsson Looked Great

Sure, Larsson was a minus-2, but he played a strong overall game. The Swedish blueliner showed off his underrated point shot, and because of that, he may get to see some time on the power-play. He finished the night with three blocks, two hits and two shots on goal, and was overall the Oilers top player of the game.

Oilers Need to Maintain Momentum

It was a lack of momentum that led to the Oilers dropping the lead multiple times. They held the lead three times throughout the night, and almost immediately after, they lost it. This is not the way they should play. Edmonton needs to find a way to calm down, relax and play smart hockey. Holding a lead is not insurance, and shouldn’t be thought of as such. It’s a way of winning a hockey game, not a safety net for letting by goals.

Next: Edmonton Oilers Need More From Top Guns

GIF of the Night

We’re all feeling this way, Jon. We all are.

via GIPHY