Predators 4, Oilers 0 post-game Oil Spills: The rollercoaster takes another dive
By Cam Lewis
6 years agoEdmonton’s up and down season took another dive downwards last night. They dominated Montreal on the weekend and followed it up with a frustrating loss to Toronto the next day. The pattern continued. The Oilers pounded Columbus on Tuesday, then, again, they followed it up with a frustrating loss to Nashville.
Yet again, the Oilers had themselves a moral victory. The team played well and dominated the shot clock, but there’s too much ground to make up and too little time for those. The Oilers allowed an ugly goal in the second, it seemed to throw them out of whack, they played poorly for a period, and the Predators buried them.
Highlights
Nashville pulled ahead in the second period. Mattias Ekholm took a wrist shot on net and Pontus Aberg got his stick up and deflected it past Laurent Brossoit. It seems this was high sticking, but there wasn’t conclusive evidence to call the goal back, so it stood. It felt like the wheels fell off after this happened.
By the numbers
This was yet another game that the Oilers had favourable underlying numbers but it didn’t translate on the score sheet. Edmonton really took the play to Nashville for the majority of the game. In the first, the Oilers had 19 even strength shot attempts to the Predators’ 12 and in the third Edmonton had 26 to Nashville’s 18. Nashville took the play to Edmonton in the second period, but it wasn’t really dominant, it was more just capitalizing on chance after chance while the Oilers slowed down. All told, Edmonton had 68 even strength shot attempts and Nashville had 47, the Oilers had 31 even strength shots on goal and the Predators had 20, but the high danger chances were split nine to eight.
Thoughts…
- I’ll reiterate what I said at the beginning. The Oilers dominated the first period, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. But in the second, Nashville scored a goal that probably shouldn’t have counted. It’s sort of shocking the league doesn’t have better camera angles to tell whether or not a player had his stick above the crossbar on a play like this. Regardless, Nashville took a 1-0 and the wheels just fell off. The team started pressing and Nashville capitalized, quickly capitalizing on a couple power play chances. The Oilers played well in the third, but that largely has to do with the Predators defending a 4-0 lead after playing the night before.
- Yet again the Oilers lost a game despite heavily outshooting the other team. What I found damning was how they had twice as many shots as the Preds, but the scoring chances on the heat map above were split pretty much down the middle. The Oilers weren’t busting hard to the net like they did against Columbus, and as a result, Juuse Saros had himself a pretty easy night.
- Jesse Puljujarvi was the only Oiler forward not to get a look on the power play last night. I’m not really sure what the deal is there. Puljujarvi has a great shot, smart offensive instincts, and a nose for the net, so it seems like a worthwhile thing to do to get him out there with the struggling man advantage.
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