Oilers Game 12: San Jose Sharks

The death by 1000 cuts Connor McDavid alluded to last week struck again on Monday night. Edmonton could not have gotten themselves into a better start against Vancouver. Twenty shots in the third period, 10 of them in only the first five minutes. Thatcher Demko showed why he’s the best goalie in the league right now, and Stuart Skinner showed a big part of why the Oilers are struggling mildly. During the first intermission on Sportsnet, Cassie Campbell pointed to McDavid’s “Death by 1000 cuts” comment and pinned their game mostly on defensive errors. She was not entirely wrong. Vincent Desharnais, unfortunately, scored an own goal trying to take away a cross-ice pass that would’ve been an easy tap-in. Evan Bouchard didn’t skate hard enough on the back check before Vancouver’s fourth goal was scored in the second period. But back to the first period, their first goal was a lucky fluke. Fine, move on. The second and third goals? Your goalie must stop those, especially when you see your opponent stopping everything and frustrating your teammates trying to score. The team in front finally played like they were pissed about losing but were still deflated by lousy goaltending.

Jay Woodcroft was ejected from the game late in the third period after Dylan Holloway was taken down from behind in front of the net, and he had words with the officials about it. He told the media he didn’t mean any harm with what he said but the refs felt differently. Woodcroft shouldn’t have apologized. We should see more frustration and impatience from this group. Hearing another F-bomb from him wouldn’t have bothered me. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman all served time in the penalty box at one point in the third period. When McDavid spoke about his rough patch with J.T. Miller, he refrained from calling it an act of frustration and said he was just reacting to the play. He was clearly frustrated, any words he used won’t hide that.

Jack Campbell was placed on waivers a day after Monday night’s game and will now be playing some minutes in the American Hockey League. He wasn’t the guy in net against Vancouver but he is the $5M backup goalie. Having him in Bakersfield gives the Oilers a little over $1M in cap space but I doubt they’ll do anything with it. They really just want to give Soup a chance to get his good game back. If that’s the way to do it, then it is what it is. Calvin Pickard was called up to take his place. He sports a 2.03 GAA and .939 SV% in 4 AHL games while Olivier Rodrigue sports a 1.00 GAA and .968 SV% in 2 AHL games. It’s both hilarious and sad that the Oilers have both the worst goaltending in the National Hockey League and the best goaltending in the American Hockey League.

I’ve heard rumblings that the Oilers are apparently interested in Jordan Binnington if they absolutely move on from Campbell and try to make a trade. It’s an interesting thought. Wouldn’t it also line up with the same storyline as the St. Louis Blues? Being the worst team in the league for most of the year and then going on to win the Stanley Cup? I’d rather not talk extensively about this until it actually happens. For now, you cheer for both the Soup and Stu to be hot again, as well as for Pickard to play some good games. The keys to the game are…

The Battle Of The Basement: The Sharks finally got their first win of the season on Tuesday night. So we’ll at least be spared of even more jokes should the Oilers lose this game. With that said, Edmonton is only 2 points ahead of San Jose in the standings with only one more win. There’s nothing at all to brag about here. As I’ve mentioned many times before, this team has a habit of playing to the level of their opponents. Given their start to the season and how Monday night went, I have to expect the same here. But please prove me wrong.

More Holes Than Swiss Cheese: I mentioned earlier in the article that the Oilers have the worst goaltending in the league. You know it’s bad when a team that allowed 10 goals in back-to-back games still has better goaltending than your team. The Sharks took “We Want 10” to a whole new level. If Pickard feels some new team nerves or Skinner has another awful night, this might be a high-scoring affair between teams no one asked for.

Look In The Mirror: Jack Campbell is a really nice guy, and he is well-liked in the locker room. But sending him down to the minors should make the players feel so bad that they want to play better. The self-guilt for a teammate being demoted like that should motivate them to step up the parts of their game that are sorely lacking.