3 Takeaways as Oilers suffer another loss to the Canucks
A breakdown of three talking points from Monday night’s game in Vancouver, as the Edmonton Oilers once again lose to the Canucks.
Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous now. The Edmonton Oilers managed to lose once again on Monday night, to fall to 2-8-1 on the season.
Returning to the scene of their 8-1 humiliation on opening night, the Oilers had the opportunity to conquer their demons in an attempt to get the season on track. Instead, they once more lost to the Canucks in Vancouver, this time ‘only’ 6-2.
This is now the fifth time in just 11 games, that the Oilers have allowed five or more goals. Unsurprisingly as a consequence, they are ranked second-worst in the NHL as of Tuesday morning, allowing an average of 4.27 goals per game.
Equally unsurprising, this is the worst start to a season for the Oilers in the Connor McDavid era. If you’re a glutton for punishment, here are three takeaways from the 6-2 loss at Rogers Arena:
1) First period sums up Oilers season so far
We’ve already pointed to 10 numbers, which helped tell the story of the first 10 games of the 2023-24 campaign. Now, we can point towards a period which helps summarise the season thus far.
More specifically, the first period on Monday night. For 11 minutes, the Oilers performed up to their talent level and were outplaying a surprisingly good Canucks team.
The Oilers were absolutely dominating the hosts, as evidenced by a 19-2 advantage in shots on goal. However, one of the prevailing narratives of this young season was also on display, i.e. their inability to take full advantage of their opportunities.
For all the chances the Oilers were creating, they only had a 1-0 lead. Their solitary goal came courtesy of Mattias Ekholm at the 6:42 mark, with the helpers going to Sam Gagner and a revitalised Evander Kane.
With the way this season has gone so far, you almost knew this lack of clinical finishing was going to come back and bite the Oilers on the ass. However, even by their standards, the self-capitulation was spectacular.
The Canucks tied the game at the 11:30 point of the first period, thanks to Quinn Hughes’ scrappy and somewhat fortunate fifth goal of the season. However, it was going to get a lot worse for the Oilers.
In the span of just 3:22, the visitors went from leading 1-0 to trailing 3-1. Pius Suter gave the Canucks a lead they wouldn’t surrender for the remainder of the game, before Oilers-killer Brock Boeser scored the third goal.
And just like that, the Oilers were behind 3-1 after 20 minutes, despite having a 20-8 advantage in shots on goal. It is extremely telling that this team is so mentally fragile, that they essentially fell apart as soon as the Canucks tied the game at 1-1.
2) Getting killed on the penalty kill
We won’t sit here and claim the Oilers’ penalty kill unit was lights out last season. However, they still did well enough to finish the 2022-23 campaign ranked 14th in the NHL, with an effectiveness of 83.5 percent.
Now, this seems like light years away from how poorly the Oilers are performing up to this point in 2023-24. As of Tuesday morning they are ranked second-bottom in the entire NHL, at a shocking 68.9 percent.
Helping the Oilers reach this dismal point, was a disastrous showing on the man-disadvantage during Monday night. The Canucks went 3-for-6 on the power play, which is quite simply unacceptable.
Yes, the Canucks are ranked third in the NHL in power play percentage at the time of posting. However, that overall percentage of 32.6 percent certainly got a big bump based on how they performed versus the Oilers.
If the penalty kill play was the only thing holding back the Oilers, it would be one thing. However, this is just one aspect of the story behind the team’s terrible start to the season and it’s the last thing they need to compound their problems.
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Almar Reyes wrote on Monday, about trying to get to the root of the penalty kill issues. This includes considering various aspects, such as player personnel, coaching strategies, and special teams coordination.
The timing of the second and third power play goals by the Canucks, alludes to the aforementioned point of the mental fragility of the Oilers. The two goals came in the final period, making the score 5-2 and then 6-2.
Even allowing for the sixth goal coming with less than a minute to go and the game already over, the Oilers just seemed to give up. Particularly after they had a goal disallowed early in the third period, which would have brought them back to within 4-3 and a chance at getting something from the game.
Instead, the Oilers just seemed to mentally check out, resigned to losing yet again. And when you check out of a game, it spells even more trouble than usual when trying to contend with a penalty kill situation.
3) Frustration boils over for Oilers
In some respects, the death knell came when the Oilers — quite rightly — had a goal disallowed early in the third period. Replays appeared showed Warren Foegele kicking the puck into the net.
Making this even more frustrating for the Oilers, was that it likely would have still been a goal without Foegele’s extra ‘touch’. Regardless, instead of getting back into the game at 4-3, the scoreline remained 4-2 and there was no coming back for the Oilers after this.
As a result, tempers started to flare up for a team which is desperately searching for answers to rekindle their fighting spirit. It’s open to debate, if doing this in a literal sense is the solution.
Regardless, that’s exactly what happened, as McDavid got into a shoving match with J.T. Miller. Zach Hyman then became involved, and he was subsequently penalised two minutes for roughing, along with Miller.
However, things were just getting started, as McDavid received a roughing penalty of his own after shoving Suter. This resulted in a mass ‘gathering’ on the ice of players from both teams, which ended with Leon Draisaitl received a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
In reality, the penalties the Oilers’ two superstars received were unnecessary, but in many ways represented the anger of a team which is lost and seemingly out of ideas. Heck, this even spilled over to the bench, as coach Jay Woodcroft was ejected with 6:47 remaining in the contest.
Postgame, Woodcroft denied using any profanities, but acknowledged he should have approached things differently, when arguing a penalty should’ve been called for a hard hit on Dylan Holloway. He said:
“In the end, I’ve got to be better. I didn’t think it crossed the line at all, but sometimes the way you send a message or ask a question, the way it’s received might not be in the manner you intended (it) to.”
Quote of the day
As much as it doesn’t help the team on the ice, Stuart Skinner was honest about his shortcomings on Monday night. Speaking postgame to the media, he said:
“It’s hard, because these guys are working their bags off. We had 18 shots, I think, in the first seven minutes. Pretty impressive, and (Thatcher) Demko did a great job, but that’s the guy I’ve got to beat out.”
Next. Firing the GM solves nothing. dark
Next up, the Oilers will travel to San Jose to play the only team with fewer points in the NHL. Suffice it say, if they somehow lose to the Sharks on Thursday night, it will constitute rock bottom in a season where things continue to spiral from one disaster to another.