Waking Up With The Edmonton Oilers- Disappointing Loss To Canucks

The Edmonton Oilers lost last night to the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 3-1. It was a tight game, but you could tell the Oilers are starting to miss their captain, Connor McDavid. The Oilers just needed one special McDavid moment last night and this game would have likely gone their way, but without the league's best player, this Oilers team is missing their spark.

It was a tightly played game, but two defensive breakdowns that led to goals were the big difference in this game. The good news is that these two mistakes are easily fixed, and these were caused by the players being lazy. When this team gets to the playoffs I really hope they are no longer playing lazily.

On the first goal scored by Lafferty, Darnell Nurse backs in too far and gives Lafferty an uncontested look from the faceoff dot. As much as you would like to maybe see Skinner make the save on that one, in the NHL a majority of players are going to be able to beat the goalie from that spot. If Nurse steps up and contests that shot it may not even end up as a shot on goal. Just a poor read by Nurse.

On the second goal, the Canucks float a pass in the slot and Suter redirects it past Skinner and into the net. The issue on this one is easy to see. All Bouchard has to do is tie up Suter's stick and this chance never happens. Bouchard does give him a little shove, but the shove neither moves Suter or his stick, so there is little effect on Suter.

The Oilers are on a bit of a winless skid right now. At a time when they are supposed to be picking up momentum for a deep playoff run, they are doing just the opposite. The next two games are against weaker opponents in the San Jose Sharks and Arizona Coyotes, although they did just lose to the Coyotes earlier this week. After that, they finish the season against the Colorado Avalanche. If the Oilers can finish strong the rest of the way I will feel good heading into the playoffs. If they don't I will start to get worried.