The Morning After: Edmonton Oilers vs Golden Knights

The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Vegas Golden Knights last night 4-3 in overtime. It is really not the preferred outcome for the Oilers. The two points would have been nice, but at this point in the season points are the most important thing.

This was a hard-fought game by both teams, but in the end, the Golden Knights were able to walk out with the extra point. From an Edmonton Oilers view, I think they could have played a better game. All the goals came from breakdowns whether in their own end or on the rush.

Edmonton Oilers Goal Against Breakdown

On the first goal, it appears that Skinner overslides to his l+eft. When he overslides that leaves an opening on the blocker side. If Skinner is square on the shot he likely makes the save as it was a pretty routine save as Eichel held the puck a fairly long time.

Evan Bouchard also got beat by a pass which lead to the 2 on 1 to begin with. He either needs to get the puck or not allow to be beaten in the foot race back. I still think the main issue on this is Skinner, and I am sure he would like to have that one back.

On the second goal, the Golden Knights break into the zone with the man advantage, the puck bounces around before Dorofeyev gets it and fires the puck into the top corner. This is a bit of bad luck tied in with a nice shot.

This may be one that Skinner would like back, but you can see there is a lot of traffic in front of him. His sightlines were broken by players skating in front of him and the shot was placed perfectly, so not really one you can blame on skinner.

On the third goal, the Edmonton Oilers fail to get the puck in deep and the Vegas Golden Knights counter quickly, Marchessault gets left alone in the slot and launches a one-timer past Skinner and in the net.

This is one where Skinner gets zero blame. The blame on this one land on Nugent-Hopkins on the backcheck he floats in too deep in the zone and doesn’t check to see if there is a trailing player. Marchessault was the trailer. He had a wide-open shot from the top of the slot.

If Nugent-Hopkins stays high in the slot and sees Marchessault that is an easy interception for Nuge and the opportunity stops right then and there. Another goal due to poor coverage.

For the overtime winner, you don’t need me to break down much on this one. The Edmonton Oilers players have been on the ice for over 1:32, which is a long shift with 5 skaters on the ice, so it is a really long shift for 3v3.

I have no idea what Evander Kane was thinking, in overtime the Edmonton Oilers play man-on-man coverage. I understand Kane was trying to put extra pressure on Eichel, but the puck still got out to a wide-open Roy.

The play gets worse for Kane as Skinner actually makes the first save, but then for some reason, Kane skates behind the net instead of attacking the player who is still wide open in front of the net. This lets Roy get the extra opportunity and he doesn’t make a mistake.

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Rematch On Tuesday

The Edmonton Oilers will have another chance to gain two points on the Golden Knights in two days. Only this time the Edmonton Oilers will be coming off a game the night before against the Arizona Coyotes.

This game will be as equally as important as last night’s game. The fact they are on the second half of a back-to-back makes it a bit more of a challenge. Hopefully, in the Arizona game, the Oilers can get the lead early and can rest the big guns for the Vegas game.