3 Takeaways from Oilers’ disheartening 4-3 loss to Stars
A look at Thursday night’s tough 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, as the Edmonton Oilers remain winless at Rogers Place in 2023-24.
So much for building on the momentum from Sunday’s 5-2 win versus the Flames. Instead, the Oilers fell flat on their faces against the Stars, and lost 4-3 on Thursday night in Edmonton.
As a result, the Oilers dropped to 2-6-1 with 10 percent of the regular season now completed. They find themselves stuck on five points, which is the tied-second-worst total in the NHL as of Friday morning.
Where the Oilers go from here is anyone’s guess, but saying it’s still early is not going to cut it anymore. Here are three takeaways from the game at Rogers Place, where they remain winless thus far in 2023-24:
1) Opportunities galore but no finishing touch
If you want to talk about just simple shots on goal, then yes, the Oilers dominated 49-27. However, it doesn’t matter how many opportunities you manufacture, if you don’t take advantage of them.
This speaks to an ongoing issue for the Oilers in 2023-24, with them just not being clinical enough with their chances. The reality is they were down 4-1 with just 10 minutes remaining, before managing to make a game of it.
It’s very rare that the Oilers’ two superstars will not have even one point between them at the end of a game. However, that’s exactly what happened to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on Thursday night.
Helping to highlight just how much this team is struggling right now, they went 0-for-4 on the power play. This would be the same power play unit which just last season had a record-breaking efficiency.
In addition, it often seems that when a team is struggling, they have no luck whatsoever. This was summed up during a second period power play, when Evan Bouchard was set up twice by Draisaitl, but both times hit iron.
Everyone knows the Oilers are better than they’re showing right now, but the offence just isn’t getting it done. A team which led the NHL in scoring last season, ranks a lowly 25th at the time of posting.
As much as it ultimately didn’t help on the night, at least Sam Gagner made a triumphant return, scoring two goals in the final period and making the game more interesting. It is somewhat poignant he made an immediate impact on the same night a still scoreless Connor Brown left the game with an apparent injury.
It’s also encouraging that Evander Kane continued his recent revival, with a goal and an assist versus the Stars. Further encouragement comes from how well Kane repeatedly linked up with Gagner, but as a whole, the offence still has plenty of work to do, to get back to last season’s standards. (Or at least close.)
2) Too many mistakes
We’ve written previously about how the Oilers are just lacking focus and consistency right now, which in turn lends itself towards too many mental errors. Thursday night was (another) classic example of just this.
Cody Ceci made the crucial mistake on the visitor’s opening goal, with an inexcusable pinch. Then after the Oilers had got it back to 1-1, the Stars regained the lead in the second period thanks to an ill-timed Dylan Holloway change after Philip Broberg had executed a poor dump-in.
However, the most costly mistake came on what was ultimately the Stars’ winning goal. McDavid and Evan Bouchard — who has been a chief culprit this season when it comes to errors — got crossed up and Roope Hintz took advantage with his second goal of the game.
Not that the mental miscues on the night were limited to the players, with Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft also guilty. When they pulled the goalie late on in search of the tying goal, he didn’t have Gagner on the ice, even though the forward was clearly the team’s best offensive threat on the night.
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Woodcroft did his best to explain what happened, although the way it all played out was of his own doing and ultimately avoidable, if Gagner had just been on the ice in the first place. Speaking to the media, he said:
“He was next player up for us, but we didn’t get a whistle or an opportunity because we were in the offensive zone.”
The only thing consistent about the Oilers through nine games is the errors, which is undoubtedly concerning no matter how potent the offence can be. Speaking postgame to the media, Kane said:
“We just made too many boo-boos tonight. Again. Three of their goals are odd-man rushes, and they end up in the back of our net every time. We can’t expect to score four, five goals every night. It’s just not realistic.”
3) Jay Woodcroft is losing control
Prior to this season, we stated that Woodcroft’s job would be at risk if the Oilers didn’t win the Stanley Cup. As much as this could have been described as hyperbole, it’s the type of pressure which comes when you have arguably the two best players in the game at your disposal.
In addition, the Oilers (theoretically) had their strongest roster in years, hence why they were among the preseason favourites to win it all. So what’s gone wrong?
We’ve discussed almost ad nauseam about the Oilers’ lack of focus and concentration, the mental errors, and so on. And ultimately, the buck has to stop with the coach.
It was alarming just how unmotivated the Oilers seemed to be, for the humiliating 8-1 season-opening loss in Vancouver. No matter how much it’s down to the players once they hit the ice, this still reflects badly on Woodcroft in how unprepared the team was for the game with the Canucks.
Perhaps alluding to the general sense of lacking urgency, the 47-year-old’s mindset is telling. When asked by the media at what point do you start being worried given that it’s now nearly at the 10-game mark, he said he doesn’t share the same level of concern.
Objectively speaking this does make sense; you can’t go losing your cool when things are going wrong and falling apart around you. You need to remain composed and do what is necessary to steady the ship.
Regardless, something just doesn’t seem right with this team. No matter the injuries, the bad luck and so on, this doesn’t make up for the fact the Oilers are looking nothing like the team they were predicted to be, or are capable of being.
The situation is becoming eerily similar to back in February 2022, when Woodcroft had to replace Dave Tippitt, who’d clearly lost the team. If he’s not careful, he will meet the same fate as his predecessor.
Quote of the day
Woodcroft is doing his best to remain positive, but knows the team let themselves down in the end. He said:
“Ninety-nine shots attempts, 50 on net, all that kind of stuff. That’s nice, but when you spot a good team a lead like that, usually you don’t end up on the right side of it.”
Next. Wrong time for Oilers to recall Raphael Lavoie. dark
Overall, concern that the Heritage Classic win versus a poor Flames team was just masking the flaws, seems to be true following Thursday night’s game. The Oilers’ response on Saturday afternoon versus the Predators, will be very telling in determining what this team is all about.