The Morning After: Edmonton Oilers Blow 2 Goal Lead, Lose In Overtime

Last night the Edmonton Oilers faced off against the team that eliminated them from the playoffs and eventually Stanley Cup Winners. The Colorado Avalanche have had a subpar season so far because of all their injuries.

Due to all those injuries, this was a game the Edmonton Oilers should have walked out with 2 points in. Instead, they only get one point on a game where they were up 2. Considering the way things have been going on home ice for the Oilers lately, maybe the one point should be good enough.

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The Good Things

The Edmonton Oilers had an excellent start getting the first goal of the game. They then followed it up with the second goal giving themselves a two-goal lead. It is nice to see a string of games where the Edmonton Oilers don’t go down early in the game.

Once again the Edmonton Oilers powerplay was very important to this team. They got both their goals while being a man up, with Zach Hyman scoring them both. It was also a good night for Draisaitl who added 2 assists to his season total.

Stuart Skinner played a high-quality game as well. He likely would have wanted the Hunt goal and maybe even the Makar goal back, but when facing 46 shots you are likely not going to save them all. To counter those weaker goals he did make more high-end saves.

The one point is still a point in the standings. Yes, you would have liked the Edmonton Oilers to get the whole two points last night, but at least they got one. The way they played tonight, I don’t know if they deserved one, but they got it.

The Oilers penalty kill was a strong point last night. They went 100% killing all five of the Colorado Avalanche opportunities. It looks like the penalty kill may be starting to turn things around from their terrible start this season.

The Bad Things

Most of these points have been said several times this season so, I really should start copy and pasting them in to save me time.

The one thing I will say is that Nathan MacKinnon’s goal was more a high-skilled play by a high-skilled player. Could the defence have played it slightly better, of course? Let’s look at all the nice goals McDavid scores, sometimes you just get out-skilled.

The Hunt goal was a breakdown in the Oilers end. When you have a player pick up the puck and the blueline and get to skate into the top of the circle and have a clear shot, there is someone doing something wrong. Also, on a one vs one, I would like to see Skinner make that save, but it was a nice shot from Hunt.

The Edmonton Oilers Head On The Road

After playing their first three games of the season at home the Edmonton Oilers head out on the road for a four-game road trip. These games are all inter-division games and are very important for the Oilers to win.

They start the road trip tomorrow against the Los Angeles Kings, then Wednesday against the Ducks, Friday against the Sharks, and finish it off Saturday in Vegas against the Knights. If the Edmonton Oilers can get at least 6 points on this trip it would really help them in the standings.

This could be the most important stretch of games for the Oilers this season. If they do poorly it helps out the teams ahead of them in the standings. If they do well it is a chance to gain some ground.

These next couple of games are must-watch hockey as they have such importance on them.