Edmonton Oilers: Three key takeaways from team’s 4-2 loss vs Red Wings

The Edmonton Oilers were unable to erase a three-goal deficit on Monday, falling 4-2 to the Red Wings in the first game of their roadtrip.

Winners of their last 10 road games, the Edmonton Oilers suffered their second loss of the season on Monday night, falling 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wings.

Prior to the game, the team announced that Stuart Skinner would get the start between the pipes, giving Mikko Koskinen a mental break. With Devin Shore out for four to six weeks, forward Ryan McLeod was called up from Bakersfield of the AHL.

Here’s what Oilers’ head coach Dave Tippett had to say about both after the morning skate.

On McLeod

“He went down [to Bakersfield] and played a lot of key minutes. He’s going to get an opportunity on that fourth line, touch a little bit of the secondary power play, so we’ll see. He’s a good young player, we’ll give him another opportunity, and hopefully, he can grab it and run with it.”

On Skinner

“There was no training camp, no exhibition games, and it was basically his first NHL game out of the blue, so you didn’t know what you were going to get. Now, he’s had a body of work with training camp, exhibition games, and he’s played very well. From a coach’s standpoint, you have an idea of what you’re going to get.”

SOG

• DET: 39
• EDM: 33

FO

• DET: 48%
• EDM: 52%

PP

• DET: 0/2
• EDM: 0/2

Here are a few takeaways from the loss.

1. Slow start offensively, Skinner sharp early

The Oilers didn’t register their first shot on goal until nearly five minutes into the game. Stuart Skinner made a few nice saves, including one on Detroit’s third shot of the game where the home team had a couple of point-blank chances.

Edmonton was outshot 16-9 in the first period, with Detroit opening the scoring at the 14:03 mark. The Red Wings caught the Oilers in transition, with a 2-on-1 chance going through all three zones.

Vladislav Namestnikov shielded the puck just enough from Tyson Barrie, leaning toward the front of the net at the perfect time to beat Skinner.

Give credit to the Red Wings’ defense early on. They did a great job pinching and had good gap control that really frustrated Edmonton’s offense.

2. Three goal deficit again

For the second consecutive game, the Oilers found themselves down three goals. After falling behind 4-1 on Friday, Edmonton trailed 3-0 on Monday after Namestnikov’s second goal of the night made it 2-0.

Shortly after that, Skinner had a really unfortunate bounce trying to play the puck behind the net that led to a tap-in from Dylan Larkin while the Oilers goalie was trying to get back.

Coming into this game, Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett noted that his team couldn’t win trying to outscore their mistakes.

“The League is too good now,” he said. “As a team, we talk more about defending and playing the right way than we do about outscoring teams. If we think we’re just going to outscore everything, that’s not a way to be successful long-term.”