Edmonton Oilers Must Find Offensive Consistency

The Edmonton Oilers suffered a rough 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders Tuesday, but the biggest part was their overall lack of offence.

Zack Kassian scored the lone goal against New York, off a deflection from Matthew Benning. While the team did manage 28 shots, none of them were able to make it past Thomas Greiss. In addition, not all the lines had that same step they had in previous games.

Second Line

Jordan Eberle finished with four shots, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finished with five. While Lucic didn’t shoot the puck at all, this line seemed to have some decent push, and really added to the Oilers’ offensive push.

This line has been finding chemistry, and it may be because of some regained confidence. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins basically got reassurance that he’ll remain a top-six forward with the David Desharnais trade, which could attribute to some of his recent push. Eberle isn’t rushing his shots as much and is also avoiding fancy plays. He is working on simply getting pucks on net, in hopes that he can add to his numbers.

Both of these players are suffering from their worst seasons in a long time, and to see them reviving their play is interesting. However, they must continue this down the stretch – if Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins continue to find their game, this team will get more offence.

Finding Scoring

This team needs to work on their power play and making solid passes. The Oilers also have to work on their shooting. While getting big bodies in front and deflecting pucks often results in scoring, Edmonton needs to find its consistent edge.

Their top line is one of the best in the NHL. They can make picture-perfect passes and set up plays, while also drawing penalties and using speed and on-ice intelligence. Leon Draisaitl has also become equipped to ripping the puck and knows how to pick up those amazing passes from Connor McDavid.

If the rest of the team invested in creating plays and working on shooting the puck, they will have better success than simply creating deflections. Not only that, they need to focus on special teams, and getting the puck on net while also creating pressure and keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

Either way, if this team plans on making a playoff push, they must work on finding some kind of consistent offence or it will hurt them in the end.