Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Just when we thought there’d be no loss, it pulled us back in. Losing last night felt worse than losing the Buffalo game, if you can believe it. The Devils don’t have their #1 centerman, and they now also have their #1 defenseman out, and they played their backup goalie(who is actually good). The home team was outshot 19-6 in the third period, Stuart Skinner made big saves and was on his way to a .900 save percentage. The Edmonton Oilers looked like they were going to have this one in the bag. But then, as with other games this season, it all slipped away.

When Kris Knoblauch said this was a fragile team, it wasn’t just a figure of speech. Even their kooky ways of coming up with wins aren’t there anymore. But also, can we stop loading up McDrai? Lately, Knoblauch has been falling into the same Oilers trap as previous Edmonton Oilers coaches. When things start going south, just put your top 2 players on the same line. Just put all of your eggs in one basket. Sure, it guarantees a goal or two. But the rest of the team lacks an identity. This is part of the reason our wingers can’t score. This is why Edmonton is perceived as a two-man team.

In off ice news, GM Stan Bowman is reportedly filing to quash a subpoena in the John Doe vs. Chicago Blackhawks lawsuit. He said in the offseason he was making amends. But depending on how much traction this story is getting, it’s a bad time for his new team to have it come out. They look like they’re going to have a repeat of their last road trip. Oh, would you look at that. L.A. just passed us in the standings. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

Screens: Not that Stu Skinner played a great game yesterday(that’s statistically false). But on the last two goals the Devils scored, there were players parked in front of the net. Our team has only scored more than two goals once in their last eight games, or twice if you count the last-second empty-netter against Carolina. Vasily Podkolzin did provide a screen for Darnell Nurse’s goal against Buffalo; they need more of that. They need to make life hockey hell for Ilya Sorokin; they need Zach Hyman to be a tap-in merchant again.

Off The Mat, Find Lee-way: The New York Islanders have been without Mathew Barzal since February 1st. He also missed all of November and half of December. It’s been a hard year for him with injuries, and trading Brock Nelson doesn’t make the lack of offense any better. Captain Anders Lee has been their leading scorer this season, with 25 goals and 45 points. He’s also 2 points away from 500 in his NHL career.

King Patrick: Patrick Roy is the greatest hockey goalie of all time; he’s also a weird coach who can make weird decisions. Perhaps I shouldn’t be overconfident and assume that my team will take the lead without problems. But for a team that struggles with getting empty-net goals, Roy’s favourite thing to do is pull his goalie way earlier than he has to. There was even a game this season where the Islanders took a late third period faceoff in their zone with their net empty. You read that right; it was in their zone, not the other zone. With this current funk, it might be about time Knoblauch outcoached someone for a change.