Edmonton Oilers Game Two: The Morning After

Last night the Edmonton Oilers faced off against their Division rivals the Calgary Flames. After having a bad first period where they gave up 4 goals they were not able to crawl their way back and ended up losing 4-3.

This game had a similar feel to the first game of the season against the Canucks. The Edmonton Oilers played bad to start. They were bad in all the same areas of play. They weren’t strong on the puck in their own end and struggled to get the puck out. They also took too many penalties early in the game.

Both of theses issues got solved later in the game, but unfortunately for the Edmonton Oilers it was too little late. Like I mentioned in my pregame article it is not as easy to come back from three goals down against the Flames. They are a better team than the Canucks.

The New Look Calgary Flames

This was my first time really watching this new Calgary Flames team and honestly I think they are slightly better than before. I don’t think they are as strong offensively, but they are harder to play against.

All of the subtractions coupled with the additions put more focus on a two way game. They don’t have as much high end skill to put the puck in the net, but there is much more skill to keep the puck out of the net. Kadri and Huberdeau are still good offensive players, but they are much better in their own end than the two players that left.

This is why I think the Flames may be slightly better than last season. It was never goal scoring that was a problem for them, it was the fact their players weren’t buying in on both ends of the ice. They have that more so now.

Another Slow Start Kills The Edmonton Oilers

Just like the game on Wednesday the Edmonton Oilers found themselves down 3 goals in the game. The only difference is this time it was 4-1 vs the 3-0 on Wednesday. This is something the plagued the Oilers last season.

Last season they were able to comeback in games a lot because they always seemed to give up the first goal. So far this season they have yet to have game where they aren’t down 3 goals.

If this team hope to win the Stanley Cup this is obviously going to have to stop. You can go through an 82 game season struggling to start games and expect to make the playoffs. Then if you do make the playoffs you aren’t going to make it very far.

I think the Oilers are lucky it is early in the season and the opposing team starts to take it easy after they get a lead. Once these team get more settled in they aren’t going to let them get back in games, especially the better teams.

Can’t Really Blame Campbell

Even though Jack Campbell gave up all 4 of the goals last night doesn’t mean they need to look at a new starter. If you watch back the goals you can see that most of them can be blamed on other things.

Goal 1:

A shot from the point makes it through and Campbell makes the initial save, but then Backlund is right there to tap in the rebound. Campbell could have pushed the rebound in a different spot, which would have solved the problem all together.

On a shot form the point that he likely barely saw it would be hard to to that though. The Edmonton defence has to do a better job of tying up sticks, so the Flames players can’t get a free shot like that in a scramble.

Goal 2:

This one Jack Campbell didn’t have much of a chance on. He was completely screened and Stone put that shot in a perfect spot. The Oilers could have been more closer to Stone and potentially block it they also should have clearer the lane in front of Campbell and removed the screen.

Goal 3:

This goal is a really back break for Kulak. He was facing Kadri in fairly routine 1 on 1, then he trips over his own feet and Kadri gets a breakaway from it. I am a believer in you can never blame the goalie on the breakaway or shootout as it is pretty much a coin flip on whether or not he can save it.

So not really Jack Campbell’s fault again.

Goal 4:

This is a similar story to the first goal. Campbell is left there to try and make endless saves on a play that is standing by the net untouched. In the NHL if you give a player that many opportunities it’s going to end up in the back of your net.

The Edmonton Oilers need to be stronger on loose pucks all over the ice, but more importantly they need to be strong in their own end around their net. The size and strength of the defence was a bit of an issue coming into the season in this game it got exposed.

The Edmonton Oilers are back at on Tuesday as they take on the Buffalo Sabres. Hopefully they can’t start the game on time and skate away with and end to end victory. If not there is going to start being questions about how this team preps for games.