Edmonton Oilers Bitten 5-1 By Coyotes
By Kurt Leavins
First, to state the blindingly obvious: For the rested Edmonton Oilers to lose 5-1 to a bad Coyotes team, after Arizona was embarrassed by the Canucks 7-1 the previous evening, on the road, is absolutely inexcusable.
I so badly wanted to write about an Oilers win, headed into the holiday break, but instead it’s a Blue Christmas for the hometown fans. Sigh. 9 Things:
9. Given the above circumstances, the fact that the Edmonton Oilers best player on this night was a teenager that many fans think belongs in Junior “A” speaks volumes. Leon Draisaitl seemingly regained his legs and his drive, after a night of press box popcorn, and was unlucky to skate away from this one without a point to show for it. He belongs in the NHL.
8. Sam Gagner. I was among a very small minority of people who remained a fan of Sam Gagner, right up until the moment he was traded. Tuesday was a good example why. This town has a bad habit of chasing good hockey players out of town. Disagree? Who was the winning goaltender tonight? Who scored the shoot-out winner Sunday? Etc, etc.
7. Brad Hunt. I keep seeing people dump on Brad Hunt, on Twitter. Huh. He was one of the few Oilers who ended up on the positive side of the +/- ledger on Tuesday night, and has 2 assists since coming back from OKC. The guy will never be Shea Weber, so how about we stop demanding that of him, and instead just appreciate what he does bring.
6. Luck. When things are going bad for a team, bounces just do not go your way. That late save Devan Dubnyk made off of Nail Yakupov was surely a metaphor for this Edmonton Oilers season. Two years ago, Yakupov electrified an entire city with an almost identical play. The difference? That one went in. This one, almost predictably…did not.
5. When your best player is not your best player. Against a much better Dallas team, Taylor Hall was either the first or second best player on the ice. Against Arizona, he could not get much at all going. That, my friends, is called “inconsistency”. You can’t be great every night, but great players can be when their teams need them the most. It’s just not his year.
4. Justin Schultz. On a night with precious few positives, the play of Schultz since the coaching change continues to be encouraging. A solid 22 minutes for him Tuesday, even on the night. He seems to be seeing the ice better, playing with greater confidence, and making smarter, more aggressive plays. Arrows pointing up, for the first time in a while.
3. The goaltending. I didn’t mind the decision to start Ben Scrivens at all. There is no way Fasth is back next season, Scrivens is under contract, ride him for a while, see if he can re-gain his confidence. But in return, Scrivens has to stop that first goal. Has. To. You could see the air come out of the balloon, for this fragile, fragile team.
2. The Power Play. At 2-1, the Oilers were not at all out of this sloppy affair, and you had the feeling that 2-man power play would really swing the momentum. Well, it did that, in the Coyotes favor. I have already dumped on Ben Scrivens. Well, good teams also bail out their goaltender when he lets in a stinker. The response was weak and un-sustained.
1. Craig MacTavish. He’s seen many of these games, this season, from high above. Oh, to be a fly on the wall on a night like this, as Mac-T had a front row seat, so up-close-and-personal to the debacle unfolding before him that he may well have suffered wind burn from the jerseys buzzing past his head from the stands at the end of the game. One wonders: What did he see, and what will he do about it?
I’m genuinely sorry to dump this big load of coal in your stocking, so close to Christmas, but even the above is a whole lot shinier than the over-all performance on the night really and truly was.
Merry Christmas, friends, and here’s hoping for a happier New Year, Edmonton Oilers fans. It can only go up from here.
Right??