Top 3 Oilers duds in home opener versus Canucks
The post-mortem still isn’t quite over yet, as we look at three Oilers in particular, who disappointed in the home opener versus the Canucks.
Even after two days. the bitter taste of the home opener still lingers in the mouth. Who would have predicted the Edmonton Oilers to lose their first two games of the season? (Well, aside from an extremely optimistic Vancouver Canucks fan.)
As much as you can argue the Oilers should have won on Saturday night, they ultimately came up short in a frustrating 4-3 loss. We take a look at those players, who stood out by not standing out versus the Canucks:
1) Connor Brown
In the interest of full transparency, we earmarked Connor Brown as one of four players who would step up for the Oilers this season. The thinking being he is a good two-way player, who offers versatility and smart instincts.
We further believed it would only help, being reunited with Connor McDavid on the first line. The duo previously played together for the Eerie Otters.
Instead, through two games at least, Brown has seemed all but invisible, having no impact on the game. He has no points, just two shots on goal and a -3 plus/minus rating.
To be clear, we’re not accusing the former Toronto Maple Leaf of putting no effort in. Just that whatever he’s doing, is having extremely minimal impact on the ice for the Oilers
Brown had actually looked good during preseason, highlighted by a three-point effort in a 7-2 win against the Flames, albeit an under-strength version. Regardless, more is expected from someone who should be a complimentary player in the top-six.
In fairness, the preseason is one thing, while the regular season is another level altogether. It’s possible the 29-year-old is still working his way back to his usual comfort level, after undergoing surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered last season.
Further, Brown had only played four games for the Washington Capitals, before suffering his season-ending injury. Ultimately, we still predict he will have a positive impact on the Oilers in 2023-24, but for now, he is one of our duds from Saturday night’s game.
2) Darnell Nurse
When it comes to the Oilers’ blue line, Darnell Nurse is undoubtedly one of their top options. In this respect, he is coming off arguably his best season yet, which included career-highs in points, blocks and takeaways.
However, this hasn’t translated into Nurse’s play so far in 2023-24. He has looked nothing like the defenceman he’s capable of being, in effectively every facet of his game.
This obviously included on Saturday night, when the 2013 seventh overall draft pick failed to show much purpose or fight. It was almost as if he was distracted, with his mind elsewhere.
Certainly, this would explain Nurse’s biggest mistake, which came at an extremely crucial juncture of the game. The Oilers had tied the game at 2-2 early in the second period, before his error contributed to the Canucks retaking the lead within just 51 seconds.
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In fairness to the 28-year-old, he wasn’t the only Oilers player to make a mistake on Jack Studnicka’s goal which made it 3-2 to the visitors. However, it was ultimately the worst.
Nurse was the last skater standing between the Canucks and Stuart Skinner in goal, with the Oilers attacking up the other end. Despite this, he started to drift up the ice and before you knew it, the visitors had got behind him on a two-on-zero counter-attack, allowing Studnicka to bury his opportunity.
Now in his 10th season of NHL-level action, this was inexcusable from the Hamilton, Ontario native. He has too much experience to be making such awful decisions.
In some respects, you could use Nurse’s mistake to encapsulate the Oilers’ first two games of the season. The only positive is — hopefully — he can’t get any worse and should bounce back sooner than later.
3) Cody Ceci and Evander Kane
Okay, we’re ‘cheating’ a little bit here. We wanted to adhere to the ‘three duds’ article structure, but in truth just couldn’t decide between Cody Ceci and Evander Kane.
Starting with Ceci, he’s had a similarly impact as Nurse so far this season, which is obviously not a positive. He’s not been quite as bad as his teammate, but this isn’t an endorsement of any kind.
Still on the subject of similarities between the two, the 29-year-old also had a crucial mistake on the Canuck’s breakaway goal which made it 3-2. He actually drifted forward from a defensive position first, before being caught out and leaving just Nurse behind him to deal with the counter-attack. (Or not, as the case turned out.)
Ceci is only one of many Oilers who’ve had defensive lapses throughout the first two games. However, he just so happened to make one of the more bone-headed ones so far in 2023-24, with only Nurse’s being worse.
As for Kane, we continue the theme of similarities, although this time with Brown. Also initially placed on the first line with McDavid, he is another player who has yet to record a single point through two games.
The 2009 fourth overall draft pick just doesn’t look at the races so far and offered essentially nothing on Saturday night, save for some excellent hits. Perhaps most damning of all — overall — he is last on the team with a -5 plus/minus rating.
Kane has too much talent to be struggling like he did during the home opener. Fans will be hoping it’s just a case of needing to settle in again especially with him previously showing the Oilers what he’s capable of.
Next. The thrills, spills and chills of Oilers' first two games. dark
Overall, at least there weren’t as many viable candidates to be on of the top three duds, when compared to the embarrassing 8-1 loss in the season opener. (That’s a positive right?) However, more players need to perform better, in order to finally pick up a point — or preferably — two on Tuesday night in Nashville.