Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

I missed us all tweeting in-game about Evan Bouchard and Stuart Skinner. (Sigh) It’s good to be back.

When I wrote my pregame for yesterday’s match-up, I said I expected rugged starts from both the Oilers and Flyers. But all game long, Philadelphia looked like they’d been playing regular season games during the 4Nations break. Edmonton looked like they were still in the booking stages of their two-week vacation. Turnovers galore from multiple culprits, no urgency on offense, and although you can’t totally fault the goalie for each goal, you’d have liked to see a save on at least 2 of them. The Flyers are 20th in GF, 27th in GA, and 28th on the PP. You’re ahead of them by 15 points in the whole league standings. You’re telling me you couldn’t outscore them or shut them down with even a tiny bit of ease? You were outshot 32 -18 against the Flyers? I know you were in the City of Brotherly Love, but you gave too much love.

In fairness to Skinner, he did make some really good stops in the third period. And you can’t blame him entirely when the team in front of him only had three shots in the third period while trailing by two goals before the empty netter was scored. The biggest save was while the Oilers got a late powerplay, their only PP of the game. They could’ve gotten a momentum shift if they scored on it and maybe struck a comeback. But no, they gave up a 2v0 shorthanded chance, which Stu made the save on. That being said, for every time Jack Michaels or Louie DeBrusk said he was giving them a fighting chance (not wrong), he still can’t start on time to save his life. We could’ve used those fight giving saves earlier.

Make no mistake, though. This was a team loss, through and through. It wasn’t just on one or two guys, as fans and media would like you to think. I was happy to see Matthew Savoie get his first NHL point, assisting on Leon Draisaitl’s goal. John Klingberg scoring his first as an Oiler was also nice. He and Ty Emberson were both +2 on the afternoon. Those were the only positives to take out of such a stinker. They continue their back-to-back with another afternoon game, and perhaps they’ll be more motivated against a tougher opponent. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

Silent Star Returns: Connor McDavid didn’t register a point yesterday, though his off night was understandable. Alex Ovechkin didn’t score a single goal or even get an assist in his game yesterday, despite the Capitals scoring eight goals. Both captains will want to right their personal ships.

Remember Last Time: This has been a season where everything just goes right in Washington. But last season, they were embarrassed in their own building by the Oilers, including bad penalties from players in their leadership group. It was a game that helped catapult Edmonton’s comeback in the standings during their horrendous start to 2023/2024. Win or lose, the hosts would rather not repeat that last meeting in D.C..

Backup Duty: Calvin Pickard continues to be a serviceable backup for Edmonton. He’s not perfect, but even if you’re a Stu fan, it’s unfair that any idea of acquiring another goalie would mean giving the ax to a #2 who has himself a solid record the last few weeks and who is actually better than the #1 on most nights. Skinner allowed three goals on 14 shots in the meeting back in Edmonton last month. Pickard will need to save the back-to-back weekend with a better performance than his counterpart. Logan Thompson played for the Caps yesterday, so Pick may’ve already gotten a break there.