Monday Musings: Paging the offence
By Jason Gregor
7 years ago
After a 7-1 start the Oilers are now 2-5-1 in their last eight. In half of their 16 games they have allowed a goal within the first 2:37. “That’s on no one but the players, not being ready to play, not being ready to go,” said Milan Lucic, so please don’t argue it’s on the head coach.
The Rangers score 1:20 into last night’s game. Dallas scored 28 seconds in on Friday. Pittsburgh scored at the 1:57 mark, and the Islanders scored 13 seconds after puck drop. In four of their last five games they’ve put themselves in a hole before most fans were even in their seats.
They battled back and won in Brooklyn. In Pittsburgh they scored the next three before losing on a bad luck own goal late in the third, and they tied Dallas three minutes later on Friday, but it is still a horrible trend they need to correct.
It is even harder to comeback when many of their players are in offensive funks.
The Oilers have 16 goals over their past eight games, and they only have 12 at EV. In their first eight games they scored 29 goals, with 23 of them coming at 5×5.
They haven’t been generating very much at EV outside of a few players.
Only four forwards have an EV strength goal during this eight-game skid. Patrick Maroon has four, Tyler Pitlick and Jordan Eberle have two and Anton Lander has one. Eberle’s goals came in the same game, so he’s been goalless in the other seven.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has two PP goals while Milan Lucic and Leon Draisaitl have one.
It is tough to win when RNH, Lucic, Draisaitl and Benoit Pouliot are producing nothing at EV. Outside of one game, Eberle hasn’t scored either. Connor McDavid is creating a lot, but he has no goals in eight games and he isn’t shooting enough. It is difficult to critique his play because he’s been the Oilers best forward most games, but I would like to see him shoot a bit more often instead of skating the puck right to the top of the crease. He is the least of my worries, but an eight-game goalless streak from your best player will decrease your chances of winning.
The bigger issue is the other forwards. RNH doesn’t have an EV goal all season — he is on pace for ten goals. He is second on the team in shots, but he isn’t finishing and I haven’t seen him being stoned by opposing goalies.
Pouliot scored in the first period versus Buffalo, but was benched the rest of the game. In his other 15 games he has scored in only one of them, two versus Washington. He doesn’t have a point since those two goals, a span of nine games. Pouliot rarely goes this long without producing. His nine game drought is the second longest of his career (he went pointless in 14 games between November 4th to 30th in 2013 as a member of the New York Rangers). He only has one penalty during this stretch and I wonder if him trying not to be so aggressive on the forecheck is hurting his overall game. It might just be a coincidence, but I haven’t seen him creating as many turnovers as he usually does by getting his stick in lanes or being quick on the forecheck.
Draisaitl only has two points in his last 12 games. After a great four game start (six points), he hasn’t produced nearly enough. One EV point in 12 games simply isn’t good enough for a player with his skill. He has only scored a goal in two of the Oilers 16 games.
Eberle has two goals and six points during this eight-game slide, however, three came in one game, and in the other games he hasn’t done much. His offensive production has been decent during this skid, but the rest of his play hasn’t been good enough. He needs to be more consistent in all aspects of his game.
Lucic has two points in eight games, but he’s been on the ice for too many goals against. He’s made some brutal passes which led to goals. He, like many players, will go through hot and cold scoring streaks, but he has the ability to impact the game in other ways when he isn’t scoring, and he hasn’t done enough of that recently.
Allowing goals in the first two minutes of the game is a trend the Oilers need to change, but they also need their offensive players to start producing more regularly.
QUICK HITS
- The Shin Pad Assassin (Sekera) has returned. In the first six games he only had six shot attempts blocked, but he’s had 28 in the past ten, including seven yesterday. He was much more involved in the game offensively yesterday, but he has to find a way to get more pucks past the high forward. This was an issue last season and he’s reverting to it again. Rookie Matt Benning is the best defender at getting pucks through. Sekera has to reduce the amount of shots that get blocked. He needs to work on it in practice or something, because it happens far too often.
- This road trip will tell us a lot about the Oilers. They were built to compete within the division, which makes sense, because if you can’t compete in your division you will go nowhere in the playoffs. The Oilers could use an emotionally charged game, and often the Ducks’ chippy style of play leads to more emotional contests. The Kings and Ducks have dominated the Oilers the past few seasons, so Tuesday and Thursday will be great tests to see if this team is better prepared to play in those types of games.
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