3 Takeaways as Oilers hit rock bottom with 3-2 loss to Sharks
By Paul Taylor
A depressing but necessary breakdown, as the Edmonton Oilers lose to the Sharks 3-2 in the battle of the two worst teams in the NHL.
Oh dear, the proverbial you know what really has hit the fan now. Any illusion that Thursday night’s game could help the Edmonton Oilers begin to turn their season around, was quickly dispelled.
Facing the team with the worst record in the league, the Oilers failed to take advantage against the Sharks. Instead, they lost 3-2 in San Jose and are now tied for the fewest points in the NHL.
As a knock-on effect, the Oilers’ 2-9-1 record through 12 games matches their worst start in franchise history. It really is as bad as it seems, as we get to our three takeaways from the demoralising road loss to the Sharks:
1) Don’t dare put this on the goalie
As of Friday morning, the Oilers have the worst team save percentage in the NHL, at .862 percent. They also rank second-worst, giving up an average of 4.17 goals per game.
However, don’t even try to put Thursday night’s loss on Stuart Skinner. This is firmly on the defensive effort of the players in front of the goaltender.
Don’t get us wrong; we’re not saying Skinner is blameless in all of this. He’s looked nothing like the goalie who last season finished runner up for the Calder Memorial Trophy.
During a fantastic breakout campaign, the recently-turned 25-year-old went 29-14-5, as he produced a .913 save percentage and 2.75 Goals Against Average. By comparison, in 2023-24 so far he’s 1-5-1, with a .854 save percentage (fourth-worst among all NHL goalies) and 3.87 Goals Against Average.
Again though, the 3-2 loss versus the Sharks is not Skinner’s fault. Even though we appreciate only saving 15 of 18 shots looks pretty damn bad on a peripheral level.
The reality though, is that the Edmonton native couldn’t have done much — if anything — about the three goals he allowed. On the first one he was left stranded, as an unmarked Fabian Zetterlund took advantage with less than two minutes remaining in the opening period.
The second goal came as a result of two extremely fortuitous deflections which saw the puck somehow land at the feet of Tomas Hertl, to fire home and make it 2-1 Sharks after two. The third happened after a Darnell Nurse turnover, which resulted in a two-on-one break for the home side that saw Filip Zadina make it 3-1 in the final period.
For his part, Skinner does need to be better in a general sense, which we do still believe he will be. However, for one game at least, he’s the last person on the ice fans should want to point a finger at.