Oilers Game 29: New York Islanders

Four wins out of six ain’t bad; I sort of predicted that before Edmonton’s second Carolina game. After having a six-game homestand, The Oilers will now be challenged with a six-game road trip. Three of those games are before the Christmas break. Even though the end of the homestand wasn’t pretty, there is still a lot to like about the team now than as opposed to when the season started. It just seems hard to appreciate it because most other teams would get into a Playoff spot with an eight-game winning streak. The fact that Edmonton still hasn’t just further highlights how bad October and November really were.

But it was those last two games at home against both Florida teams that we were reminded once again of the one issue plaguing Edmonton more than any other. The consistent ability to keep pucks out of the net. The game on Saturday was dead, even with both the Oilers and Panthers registering 39 shots on goal. There were also 28 blocked shots in total; both sides had 14. But Sergei Bobrovsky did exactly what Andrei Vasilevsky did: he stopped virtually everything. I don’t really put too much blame on Calvin Pickard for the goals he allowed on Saturday, even though it was his worst game with Edmonton so far. Every player in front of him was puck-watching, and their opponents had all the time in the world near the net. The Oilers were just one shot away from adding onto their lowly record of losses when getting 40+ shots on goal. Stop me if you’ve already heard this: they keep getting goalie-d.

The Carolina Hurricanes recently placed goaltender Antti Raanta on waivers, and some Oilers fans pondered the idea of acquiring him. But I have a difficult time believing in someone who has worse stats this season than Jack Campbell. Granted, Raanta’s stats before this season were dependable, but so were Campbell’s before he signed with Edmonton. They need someone who could make saves now, not prior to. Is the problem just that Raanta needs a change of scenery? Perhaps. But is the Alberta capital the change of scenery he needs? That’s a risky decision to make, considering where this team is at right now. Ken Holland stated in an interview last week he wasn’t going to get a new goalie before the Christmas break. Here’s hoping the three games played before this coming weekend don’t make him regret saying that. The keys to the game are…

Noah’s Ark: The Islanders drafted Noah Dobson in 2018 just a couple of spots after the Oilers picked Evan Bouchard. He does for their blue line what Bouchard does for Edmonton’s blue line, with the same number of points as our guy. Dobson may not have as hard a shot as Bouchard, but it’s still not something to take lightly.

Don’t Get Goalie-d Again: Yes, this key is harder for the team to control. But it is a trend, as I’ve alluded to many times. Whether it’s Ilya Sorokin or Semyon Varlamov between the pipes, the Islanders don’t have to worry about goaltending. The Oilers need to do a more consistent job of scoring garbage goals from time to time. Screen the goalie, and don’t always shoot to score. Shoot to force a rebound, or force the defenders in front of the goalie to make a mistake.

Opponent’s PK Woes: The Islanders are 17th in penalties taken, just in the middle of the pack. But their penalty kill is ranked dead last in the whole league. I just gave props to their goalie tandem, but they can’t redeem every issue. Force them to take bad penalties like they did against Washington, and an Oilers powerplay that has seen improvements could perhaps really come alive again here.