3 Takeaways as Oilers suffer frustrating 4-3 loss to Canucks
We delve into the Edmonton Oilers’ home opener on Saturday night, when they came up just short in a tough 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
There was plenty to be encouraged by on Saturday night, as the Oilers played their first home game of the 2023-24 regular season. Mattias Ekholm was back, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three points and Leon Draisaitl extended his points streak versus the Canucks, to 20 games.
In general though, it was another tough evening for the Oilers. Looking for revenge after being embarrassed 8-1 in the season opener, they came up agonizingly short in the rematch.
It probably didn’t help, that the Canucks’ winner came courtesy of Sam Lafferty. That would be the same player who the Oilers had been interested in prioer to his trade to Vancouver, from the Leafs.
So what stood out most from the 4-3 loss? Here are three takeaways from Saturday night’s game at Rogers Place:
1) Don’t put this on Stuart Skinner
Stuart Skinner ended the night with the exact same stat line as in the season opener, i.e. four goals allowed on 16 shots. This time however, the stat line was over the course of (mostly) an entire game rather than effectively half a contest.
As a result, on the surface level Skinner’s 2023-24 campaign is off to a disastrous start. At the same stage last season, he had a .944 save percentage and had allowed three total goals through his first two appearances.
However, don’t think to put Saturday night’s loss on the 24-year-old. He was badly let down by the blue line, particularly the likes of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci.
Further, Skinner was just plain unlucky on the night, as the Canucks scored twice on deflections. Throw in another goal on a two-on-none situation, and he had no chance.
The Edmonton native did his best to keep the Oilers in the contest with some crucial saves. Overall though, there was little he could do to overcome what the hockey gods had pre-determined.
For his part, Skinner was defiant about his tough start to the season. Speaking to the media postgame, including Sportsnet‘s Mark Spector, he said:
“That’s all other people’s opinions on goaltenders. Goalies know how to play, and numbers lie.”
In fairness to the goaltender, Saturday night’s outing provided some evidence to back up his claim. Regardless, he still needs to be better moving forward, because as of right now there is plenty of concern about the defensive frailties of this team.
2) The ups and downs of special teams
Coming off a season where the Oilers had the best power play percentage in NHL history, more of the same was expected in 2023-24. In this respect, three of their four goals so far this season have indeed come on the power play.
However, you can make the argument that on Saturday night in particular, the Oilers were not as sharp as usual with the extra man. They had seven power play opportunities in total, but ‘only’ managed to convert on two of them. (This included a two-man advantage for 52 seconds in the third period, which they did not score from.)
Yes, statistically speaking this converts into a 28.6 percent success rate, which would have been second-best last season behind their own record-breaking effort. However, when it’s the home opener and you’re looking for revenge versus a team which humiliated you just three days earlier, you need to take better advantage of these situations.
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Let’s be clear in saying the Oilers’ power play will be just fine over the course of the season – how could it not be with the likes of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl? Regardless, for one night at least, you can make the argument this unit let them down.
On the flip side, the Oilers entered the 2023-24 campaign with concerns about a penalty kill unit which ranked just 20th last season. Unfortunately for the fans, the struggles have continued through the first two games.
The Canucks went a sizzling 3-for-6 in the season opener, and followed this up with another goal in three attempts on Saturday night. As a result, the Oilers have the NHL’s second-worst penalty kill in the way-too-early rankings, as of Sunday morning.
More generally speaking, the Oilers dominated the Canucks 40-16 in shots on goal, albeit including 12 shots on the power play. However, this doesn’t matter, if you can’t be more clinical with your finishing.
3) It’s still early
The Oilers have been renowned for their slow starts in recent years. Just last season alone, they were only 10-10-0 through the first 20 games.
The difference this time however, is that the Oilers have started the campaign with two losses, including the embarrassing season opener. As a result, they are propping up the Western Conference standings on Sunday morning, with no points and a -8 goal difference.
However, it’s all about perspective, as Zack Hyman explained to the media postgame on Saturday night. As per Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun, he said:
“If you lose two games in the middle of the season it’s not the end of the world. You lose two games here and you get all these questions about your defensive game.”
In fact, Hyman sees no reason for any particular concern. He said:
“It’s not ideal, obviously, to lose the first two games, but there is no panic. We are a pretty confident group. We are not going to overthink this. We are very confident in this group and what we are capable of.”
Skinner backed this up and even (almost) managed to make the 0-2 start sound like a positive. He said:
“There’s a little bit of frustration. Obviously, you want to start 2-0, not 0-2, but in my opinion adversity never kills you. I think it makes you a lot stronger. And for us to face it early on might be a really good thing for the long term.”
The Oilers duo are right in terms of stressing that it’s still early in the season. However, this doesn’t make it any easier for the fans, who have witnessed a humiliating road loss followed by a tough defeat on home ice.
Quote of the day
Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft discussing how his players reacted after the 8-1 loss in Vancouver. As per Gerry Moddejonge of NHL.com, he said:
“The big thing for our team that I wanted to see was a response. There were a lot of good things in our game. We’re not on the moral victory business, I know that, but I saw a response. I saw us way more competitive.”
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Overall, there’s no denying the Oilers played considerably better on Saturday night compared to the season opener. (How could they not?!?!) However, they really need to get off the mark on Tuesday night, when they visit Nashville to play the Predators.