The Day After 33.0: Edmonton Oilers gift Anaheim Ducks their third regulation win of the season

After inexcusable gaffes Thursday night that cost the Edmonton Oilers a victory over the St. Louis Blues, the whole market in Alberta’s capital had their sights set on one man: Darnell Nurse.

But on Saturday afternoon, it didn’t take long for veteran defenceman to respond. A goal 5:07 into a Saturday afternoon affair with the Anaheim Ducks was just what the doctor ordered.

The only problem? It didn’t last. 10 minutes later he made a soft play along the wall then got puck-watching an already covered Sam Carrick, who found the back of the net to tie it. The comedy of errors kept coming. Evan Bouchard had two of his own — a backhanded flub that allowed Ryan Strome a breakaway goal, and another screening his own goaltender on John Klingberg’s game-winner.

The game didn’t fall on him, nor Nurse for their blunders. As a whole, the Oilers could’ve played a much better game and by the end of it, they lost 4-3 despite the fact it should’ve gone the other way.

“We poured 49 shots on net. I thought their goaltender played pretty well and i thought we can do a better job on the goals against,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft after the game. “For us, I thought there was compete and offensive chances for. What we gave them, I thought, were within our control.”

He’s not wrong. The Oilers outchanced the Ducks a staggering 43-18 by the end of the game.

“You look at their shots on net and how many were actually chances. Give them credit. They came in and found a way to get two points. On certainly some of the goals against we feel we could do a better job.”

It was death by a 1000 cuts for the Oilers. Small mistakes that ended up in the back of the net, or missed shots at open cages. Zach Hyman, no doubt, would want the one back from the first period that would’ve put the Oilers up 2-0.

Oilers defacto No. 1 Stuart Skinner didn’t have the easiest of nights, either. There wasn’t a ton he could do on goals one and two by Anaheim, but three and four? He said he could’ve done more to take the heat of mistakes made by Bouchard.

“I have nothing but respect for him. He works his bag off every single day. He does so much for me, he does so much for our team,” said Skinner of the young Bouchard. “He knows how to score, he knows how to play defence, he knows how to block shots, he’s got a great stick.

“He just grinds out there. sometimes things don’t go your way, but I don’t think that just goes on one guy, I think that goes on all 24 of us who are playing. I can help him out too. I should’ve helped him out on the last one and I can do a better job for Bouchie.”

This will undoubtedly be one the Oilers want to park. 49 shots. A million chances. Three goals.

The Oilers schedule isn’t exactly difficult here, either. They play Nashville again Monday (and we all know how those games have gone), but will have a tough task Wednesday visiting a stingy Dallas Stars team. Edmonton closes out the month playing Vancouver at home on the 23rd, Calgary on the road on the 27th, Seattle on the road on the 30th, and a New Years Eve bout against the Winnipeg Jets.