Rather than calling this Game 7 of the regular season, we should call it Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Maybe if Edmonton pretends that’s what it is, we won’t see third periods like the one on Tuesday night. Jack Campbell was statistically bad, allowing 6 goals on 31 shots. But he was bailing his team out during the second period, including a save-of-the-year candidate. Warren Foegele had a two goal performance, continuing to elevate his play in the top 6. But who cares? When you go 1 for 5 on the powerplay, allow five goals in the third period, and have started the season 1-4-1, who cares? As offensively gifted as Evan Bouchard is, he’s been very poor defensively. He’s forgotten how to handle a puck and was guilty of two or three goals against, the third goal being where he apparently mistook a Wild player for one of his teammates. He’s on pace for 109 points but will generously give half of those point totals back to the opposition. Mattias Ekholm looks like he came back from injury too soon.
With the season starting in a way we weren’t expecting, we once again hear chants of “FIRE KEN HOLLAND.” Now, some fans are calling for Jay Woodcroft to be canned. I haven’t liked some of Jay’s decisions so far either, but he’s also the ninth coach they’ve had since 2009. Constantly leaving people out of a job is not the solution. We were calling for Dave Tippett’s head in 2022 and deemed Woody the savior. Holland has his detractors but has also made good deals that he genuinely deserves credit for. It’s literally the same old song and dance every single season. The Oilers look like they’ve gone back to being a draft lottery team, and then, after a while, they play like one of the best teams in the league.
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This mental flaw has been a thing since 2015; they just look to be getting it out of the way early. It’s exhausting and irritating because no matter what they do off the ice, they still can’t learn from these mistakes on the ice. Fool me once? Shame on you. Fool me twice, three times, four times? I know it’s still early in the season, but all the talk of being hungrier to win and this season being “Cup Or Bust” feels more like lip service when you watch this team play. If the playoffs start tonight, would you like their chances heading into Round 1? I wouldn’t. You can’t always pin the issues on management. This roster is making the pre-McDavid/Draisaitl Oilers look like the Gretzky/Messier Oilers. There are teams with less talent that work way harder than this one. They have tossed away points against easier opponents. They start a four game homestand on Thursday night, and if you think fans are bitter now, imagine if the team doesn’t come away with at least two wins. The keys to the game are…
It’s Not Over Yet: In three of the last four meetings against these two teams, the winner erased a three goal deficit. Heck, remember New Year’s Eve of 2019? The Oilers almost blew a 6-0 lead in that meeting. This is a really important fact to take into account after watching Edmonton fall asleep in the third period against Minnesota. If you have a comfortable lead, keep playing hard enough to secure it. If the Rangers have a comfortable lead (not ideal), keep playing to crawl back, and don’t get down on yourselves.
Third Period Scoring: Before Tuesday night’s game, the Oilers were the only team this season not to score a third period goal. Even in the 6-1 game against Nashville, they had that lead long before. So there was no pressure on them to keep working. They now have one third period goal. When teams are desperate for sparks, there has to be a clutch performer who comes through at the right time.
Citizen Kane: Last weekend on Hockey Night In Canada, Evander Kane slipped in how he didn’t like having limited ice time against the Jets. This inspired him to get into a fight. Fast forward to Tuesday night, he got into another fight and put up a Gordie Howe hat trick. Ever since his wrist injury last season, he’s played like he has hands made of stone. It’s been hard for him to get the scoring touch he had in Edmonton previous to his wrist injury. Was Tuesday night the spark he needed to bounce back?
