Top 3 Oilers duds from disappointment in Philadelphia
As if Edmonton Oilers fans haven’t suffered enough already, we take a look at three individuals who particularly disappointed in the 4-1 loss to the Flyers.
Philadelphia might be the City of Brotherly Love, but the Edmonton Oilers didn’t feel particularly cared for on Thursday night. Mind you, they didn’t really deserve any comfort, with how they performed versus the Flyers.
The result was a 4-1 loss at the Wells Fargo Centre, thanks to an effort which looked eerily similar to the poor one given during the season opener in Vancouver. Here’s a look at three key Oilers personnel, who just didn’t perform well enough against the Flyers:
1) Evan Bouchard
Last season saw Evan Bouchard truly begin to show what he was capable of, and prove why the Oilers selected him 10th overall in the 2018 draft. He was helped by the trade for Mattias Ekholm, as he grow in confidence, which in turn resulted in stronger performances on the ice.
With a full season next to Ekholm, Bouchard was expected to be even better in 2023-24. In fact he was predicted to have a career year, including being among the NHL leaders in points for a blue-liner.
However, while the 24-year-old does have four points (all assists) through four games, the truth is he’s having a terrible season so far. Even the reassuring presence of Ekholm playing next to him has not helped, and he is tied for the worst plus/minus rating on the team, at -5.
We’ve already been here once with Bouchard as a top three dud, after he made errors on three of the Canucks’ goals in the 8-1 opening night humiliation. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, there was more of the same on Thursday night in Philadelphia.
First up, the Oakville, Ontario native had a key turnover on the Flyers’ second goal early in the second period. He gave away the puck, which set Cam Atkinson up to score.
Then, with the game still in the balance in the third period — at least theoretically, given how poorly the Oilers were playing — Bouchard made another crucial error. He just wasn’t concentrating, which allowed Atkinson to fly past him on the breakaway, to score his second goal of the night and make it 4-1.
In many ways the second Atkinson goal summed up how Bouchard has been performing so far this season, at least defensively. He just seems to be distracted and not focusing on the task at hand.
We still have a firm belief that the right-hand shot will get back on track as the 2023-24 campaign proceeds. Until then however, he’s just going to have to deal with ongoing concern and criticism.
2) Connor McDavid
We appreciate that for a lot of Oilers fans, to call Connor McDavid a dud is both blasphemous and asinine. However, as the captain of the team, you must take the rough with the smooth; the criticism with the praise.
This aside, McDavid did simply just have a bad game in Philadelphia on Thursday night. He might have recorded an assist on the Oilers’ only goal, but he still represents a team which inexplicably lacked urgency for the second time this season.
While it was of course in no way on purpose, the six-time All-Star collided with Evander Kane early in the second period and the Oilers lost the puck. As a result, the Flyers went down the other end of the ice and scored their aforementioned second goal, to make it 2-0 to the hosts.
Even worse, McDavid had an unfortunate hand in a key moment of the game, with time winding down in the second period. He gave away the puck during a power play for the visitors, which resulted in the Flyers scoring a short-handed goal and making it 3-1.
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If this wasn’t bad enough, the three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner struggled to find any openings on offence. He failed to record a single shot on target, for just the fifth time in four seasons.
The end result was McDavid and his first line of Kane and Leon Draisaitl combining for a -4 plus/minus rating on the night. (By comparison, the Flyers’ first line finished with a +7.) For the superstar centre specifically, he is now has the second-worst plus/minus rating on the team, at -4.
About the only ‘positive’, is that (we predict) it will go down as the 26-year-old’s worst performance of the season. Speaking to the media postgame, he said:
“Lucky for us it’s only four games, but with that being said, it’s been four games, so it’s time to put our best foot forward here and starting playing better games. … It’s hard to win in this league, really hard. It takes everybody and it takes everything you’ve got, so we have to get back to that.”
3) Jay Woodcroft
We’re taking a bit of a different approach with the third dud, in selecting Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft. And yes, we appreciate the coach isn’t actually out there playing on the ice.
However, we still believe Woodcroft is worthy of being pointed out for his failings on the night. Like it or not, he is responsible for formulating the game plan and getting the players ready to go out there and execute.
In this respect, the buck has to stop with the 47-year-old. It was alarming how lackadaisical the players were on Thursday night, lacking any urgency from the word go.
This is the second time the Oilers have been accused of this so far in 2023-24. This would be inexcusable for two games over the course of a 82-game schedule, never mind just four contests, and that’s on Woodcroft.
When the Toronto native made significant line changes prior to the game in Nashville, this was described as desperate and too soon by critics. In fairness it did seem to work versus the Predators, but clearly fell apart against the Flyers.
So where do Woodcroft and the Oilers go from here? While it is only four games into the season, the coach is already under pressure to get the team back on track, with his previously accused of looking out of his depth at key moments, particularly in playoff games.
For his part, the former player seemed calm and positive on Friday. Speaking to the media at practice, he said:
“I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, but we also know that the necessary pieces to make sure it gets taken care of, are in our room. We just have to execute at a better level and get more people up and running, and contributing to us moving forward.”
Next. Has Woodcroft found a spark in the Oilers' new lines?. dark
Overall, harsh or not, the Oilers essentially got what they deserved on Thursday night. They need to follow the example of Dylan Holloway, whose been arguably the most consistent player on the team so far in 2023-24, when hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.