Edmonton Oilers Get More Effort, But Drop Fourth Straight

The Edmonton Oilers seemed to get more effort from their forward lines, but a weak start and poor defensive performance led them to drop their fourth straight game in a 5-3 loss against Carolina.

Teuvo Teravainen kicked off the scoring about 20 seconds in the first and then scored his second of the night minutes later. Toward the end of the first, Elias Lindholm made it 3-0 for Carolina, putting the Oilers in an early hole that they couldn’t completely climb out of.

During the second period, Edmonton generated many shots on goal and got a lot of scoring opportunities, and after strong work on the power play from Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto, Mark Letestu scored his first of the season and cut the lead to two heading into the third.

Edmonton Oilers

Jordan Staal scored early in the final frame to make it 4-1, but not soon after, the Oilers got two more goals from Ryan Strome and Milan Lucic to bring the Oilers within one. But after Jaccob Slavin scored about halfway through the third, Edmonton couldn’t put up any more offence despite plenty of opportunities and fell 5-3.

Players to Note

Strome recorded his first points with Edmonton, racking up a goal and assist within three minutes. He seemed to have much more energy and effort in this game and contributed a lot to the Oilers’ offence in the final 20 minutes of regulation, and he also registered six shots on goal.

Lucic was also impressive, working wonders with the puck and creating a number of scoring chances. He had five shots on goal and also managed to score, and also played a key role in helping Letestu open the scoring on the man advantage. With his effort, he looked the part of a top-six winger, and also helped the Oilers get more pucks on goal.

Yamamoto put up an assist on the power play and extended his point streak to two games, and Nugent-Hopkins racked up a helper in his 400th career game and now has two goals and three points in five games.

Next: Edmonton Oilers Must Step Up

Brossoit appeared to struggle greatly between the pipes and wasn’t able to stop too many shots that came his way. In the end, he was left to dry on some plays by the defense, but he did allow some soft goals. If he wants to prove that he can take on a bigger workload and more responsibility, he needs to come up big when the chance arises, and he needs to be more confident in the crease.