Rangers Edge Edmonton Oilers 2-0

Something about Sunday’s Edmonton Oilers game really bothered me, other than the loss, that is. I’ll get to it in my final point, in this edition of 9 Things:

9. The goaltending. Ben Scrivens was very good in a mop-up role for Viktor Fasth the other night, and was as good as he could be against the Rangers and deserved much better. Meanwhile, Laurent Brossoit is 6-0 in his last 7, with a .928 SV% in the AHL. How long before the pending UFA Fasth is dealt for a late pick? Tick, tick, tick…

8. Jeff Petry had a terrific night. He had one dicey moment that the anti-Petry crowd will rage about, but when you’re not Shea Weber but you still play 25 minutes a night, there’ll be a handful of those. The other pending UFA on this team is proving, night-in and night-out that his1-year extension in the off-season was a blunder.

7. Brad Hunt. So…after watching the power play short out one more time, and after just 16 shots directed at the Rangers’ net (a home-town friendly count of 16, BTW), explain to me again why it was such a crime against humanity to recall the AHL’s top scoring D-man? Martin Marincin does not fix the power play. Hunt may help, though.

6. Teddy Purcell. I’m sorry, but if I get elevated to the top line, to play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall, I show up with a pulse. Purcell IS good with the puck and can be an effective passer. But on Sunday, he was just plain absent. Dallas Eakins quite properly replaced him with David Perron in the 3rd period. Be. Better.

5. The forecheck. Too often, Sunday night, there wasn’t one. Why? Because of all of the times that the Oilers had possession, they dumped the puck in and then changed, rather than go get it. When your best faceoff man is out you are already taking a hit on your possession time, but then to just politely hand the puck over to them?! Besides, the Oilers’ retrieval was ineffective.

4. Justin Schultz. He had that one, 5-alarm mistake in his own zone (again), which didn’t end up in the Oilers net (this time). But Schultz’s play was a fair bit steadier on Sunday, and he even had a couple decent hits. I’m not making a case for the Norris here, just pointing out how good it would be if Schultz is starting to come around.

3. If you are having trouble scoring, then instead of giving Steve Pinizzotto 7 minutes a night, why not give Iiro Pakarinen or Curtis Hamilton those minutes instead? Y’know, a player that may actually be on your roster next season? I have nothing personal against Pinizzotto, he gives an honest effort for an AHL player. But that’s exactly what he is.

2. Who was your best player? If it’s that hard to choose, on any given night, then you are either doing very good or very bad. Guess which it is? Scrivens and Petry were the Oilers best players in a 1-0 game (the empty-netter is irrelevant to this conversation). As I’ve pointed out before, in the NHL, to win, your best players have to be the best players on the ice, most nights.

1. The Offence. A couple years ago, I remember thinking that if this team’s offence is this good already (and it was), just think what the Oilers attack could look like in the future when it had fully matured, and another piece or two had been added to it. I never, ever would have believed that I would be seeing this today. But I am, and I now spend hours wondering where…where did it all go wrong? Given how many of the main cogs in that offence are still here, I then really have to wonder:

Has Dallas Eakins wrung the offensive life out of these players? Is Nail Yakupov really this flat? Has Jordan Eberle really regressed this much? Did Justin Schultz really just forget how to play hockey? Has Taylor Hall really gone from the 2nd Best Left Winger in the game to just an average guy?

No. My eyes did NOT deceive me, this used to be an exciting team to watch, even when they lost. But now they’re not.

And for fans…that sucks.