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.