Oilers Game 30: New Jersey Devils

I already miss writing happy articles. Edmonton’s eight-game winning streak was turning October and November into a distant memory. But now, with three regulation losses in a row and being seven points out of a Playoff spot, that winning streak seems like a distant memory instead. Ironically, their special teams, the very thing that they are supposed to be more dominant at, is what cost them Tuesday night’s game. Now, it is worth noting that the Islanders are now tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals. In my last article, I pointed out that they had the league’s worst penalty kill, but I did not look into the shorthanded goals. That is a miss I will own up to. But even with the shorthanded goal being allowed by the Oilers to go down 3-1, it happens. Edmonton still looked mediocre on the powerplay. Even when they were gifted a minute-long two-man advantage, all they did was pass the puck around most of the time and not get enough shots at the net. Goals don’t have to be scored with only pretty plays. Connor McDavid made a nice move around the net, but then passed the puck to Leon Draisaitl instead of just shooting it himself when he was right in front of the net. The Oilers’ PP is still 4th in the league; that’s good. But they should take into perspective that maybe all the other 31 teams studied the setup for Draisaitl’s PP shot enough times to cover him on the PK. They made the 32nd-ranked PK look decent while allowing two PP goals themselves. Evan Bouchard is now two games without a point after having a 13-game point streak. Even with his point production, I almost feel like other teams don’t respect his slap shot the same way they respect Draisaitl’s. I’m not saying Bouchard never shoots the puck at all. There are just times where (and Bob Stauffer made note of this as well during the winning streak) he should shoot it just a tad more because it is an amazing shot. Choosing between Bouchard and Draisaitl to cover could be the Sophie’s Choice of special teams if Edmonton just switched their PP plan up a little bit.

I pointed out during the happy articles that Edmonton could not afford following up all those wins with too many consecutive losses. Losing a third straight game was not an ideal situation to have; don’t make it a fourth straight loss. Connor Brown will be a healthy scratch, so there is some accountability being had during this small but rough stretch. The keys to the game are…

Devilish PP: While I just criticized the Oilers powerplay, New Jersey is first with the man advantage this season at 31.3%. Edmonton’s penalty kill had also been improving before the last three games, where they allowed five PP goals. They’re going to have a massive test tonight in order to fix that part of their game again.

Timely Saves: Let me first preface that Tuesday night was not Stuart Skinner’s fault. It’s unfair to solely blame any goalie when their team only scores one goal. That being said, whoever is in net for Edmonton has yet to truly steal a game this season. Both the eye test and analytics show the Oilers defense is better than the league-wide narrative suggests. But when they make ONE mistake, it ends up being a goal and deflates the entire bench. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins turned the puck over on the PP, Bouchard looked awkward covering the 2v1, and that led to New York’s shorthanded goal. Again, not Skinner’s fault. But if he stopped that, then perhaps that would’ve sparked Edmonton’s confidence ever so slightly. Just perhaps. We’ve seen the value of key saves on the other side many times this season, but New Jersey’s goaltending has been as lackluster as Edmonton’s. Calvin Pickard is starting in net. Unless he plays as well as he did in the first meeting against the Devils, Thursday night could be the battle of the beach balls.

Warren(ted) Offense: Warren Foegele made a nice pass on the rush at centre ice to feed Draisaitl for the opening goal in the first period on Tuesday night. For as long as he’s been an Oiler, he’s always playing his best hockey on the second line with one of Draisaitl or Nugent-Hopkins. I don’t expect him to get as many points as those two, but I never understand why he doesn’t just stay there after he plays well enough to keep his spot there. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It also helps maintain secondary scoring since some other forwards have been struggling in that department lately.