The Day After 39.0: Oilers blow an early lead, give up five consecutive goals in 5-2 loss to the Kraken
By baggedmilk
1 year agoI’m upset. Final Score: 5-2 Kraken
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After pumping the Kraken for a 7-2 win when these two teams met up just under a week, I was incredibly eager to see how or if the Oilers would come up with an encore. A hot start to the season aside, I still believe that Seattle is a team the Oilers should beat more often than not, and I felt that anything other than a win was going to be disappointing. Not only that, but we were talking about a game with a potential four-point swing and that was an opportunity the team should have been gagging for. That said, I also recognized that stomping a team into the ground meant that the Kraken were likely to come into last night’s rematch with a goal of two points in mind and a chip on their shoulders.
And as we know all too well from watching plenty of these games together over the years, there ain’t no team in this league that can’t make the Edmonton Oilers look foolish if the stars aren’t properly aligned. So to have the game play out the way it did — Oilers grab an early two-goal lead only to blow it spectacularly — it was hard to be surprised because the Oilers have a) been rough at home all season, and b) they haven’t shown us anything all season that should have made us feel any real sense of confidence. As much as I want to be mad about this loss, I’m actually getting to a point when I’m just constantly bummed out that this team just can’t stop spinning their wheels.
PRESENTED BY BETWAY
FIRST PERIOD
- Did anyone else boo their TV when the Oilers didn’t score four goals in the first period? Just me? Thankfully, my boy Nuge made sure that the Oilers got on the board first with a power play goal from an impossible angle that left me wondering how the hell he managed to hit the net from where he shot that puck.
- Despite only scoring the single marker from RNH, the Oilers could have easily earned at least another goal or two based on some of the pressure they produced in the Seattle zone.
- Stuart Skinner wasn’t as busy as his counterpart at the other end but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t sharp between the pipes as he was called upon to make some big saves in the back half of the period. Stu stopped all nine shots he faced.
- The Oilers outshot the Kraken 14-9 in the period but I think the play was a little bit more lopsided in Edmonton’s favour than that regardless of what the score said.
SECOND PERIOD
- I thought Connor McDavid could have had two or three goals with the way he was buzzing around in the first period and it was not at all surprising to see him cash in a beauty in the first few minutes of the second. When he’s flying through the neutral zone the way he was, there was absolutely nothing the Kraken could do to stop him.
- Matty Beniers hadn’t scored since Dec. 11 and so why should we be surprised when a guy comes into town on a goal drought scores a goal (2-1) by batting the puck out of mid-air?
- Jaden Schwartz tied the game (2-2) on a delayed penalty call after Seattle completely took over the period with a run of shifts that pinned the Oilers in the defensive zone. But if there’s one thing the Oilers have done well all season, it’s giving up goals on the back of defensive gaffs. And are you surprised Adam Larsson picked up an assist? No, me neither.
- Yanni Gourde gave Seattle the lead (3-2)after a faceoff loss by RNH led to the Oilers getting pinned in their zone, duffing an easy clearing attempt, and event ally fishing the puck out of their own net.
- Jared McCann scored the fourth consecutive goal for the Kraken on what was basically a tap-in (4-2) after a missed catch by Skinner led to an easy chance in the slot that the Kraken made no mistake of cashing in.
- I know Stuart Skinner got the hook — he finished with 16 saves and a .800 save% — but I don’t think this loss was on him either as the team in front of him basically stopped playing after McDavid’s early goal.
- Seattle outshot the Oilers 11-4 in the second period and the rest of the frame was just as ugly as that shot total suggests.
- Outside of Connor McDavid’s coast-to-coast beauty, the Kraken outplayed the Oilers for most of the second period and their work was reflected on the scoreboard with four straight goals in just over 10 minutes. As far as quitting on a period, I don’t know that I’ve seen the Oilers mail it in quite so spectacularly as they did in this 20-minute segment.
THIRD PERIOD
- Another day, another disallowed goal because of Zach Hyman. I keed, I keed.
- As much as it was nice to see the Oilers lock things down defensively a little bit in the third period, it was too little too late after their apparent disregard for defence in the second period gave Seattle everything they needed to get the job done.
- I appreciated the Oilers’ attempt to come back in the third period, but they should have never been in that position in the first place, and this is probably the 10th time this season we can say that.
- By the time Alex Wennberg scored into the empty net (5-2) I was barely paying attention, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
1) Now that we have the beautiful royal blue jerseys back, I find it hard to watch the Oilers wearing any other set. I was never one of the people that complained when they wore the dark blues, but I would definitely say that these unis look better in person than they do on TV.
2) I know I say it all the time but I really love the Oilers’ power play so very much. The penalty kill, however, is much more difficult to fawn over.
3) That second period had to be one of the worst periods we’ve seen the Oilers play all year. They were sloppy in all three zones, looked lost offensively, and basically let
4) Make it a fifth straight loss at Rogers Place for the Oilers, dropping them to 9-11-1 on the year at home. That mixed bag of awfulness includes losses to the Kraken, Canucks, Blues, and Ducks, and I couldn’t think of an uglier trio of games to lose in front of your own fans.
5) The Oilers won 61% of the faceoffs and I couldn’t even enjoy it. 😔
BETTER LAIT THAN NEVER
On this week’s episode of BLTN, Tyler and I wrapped up the 2022 calendar with a look at some of the biggest Oilers stories from the year. We looked at the trades, the rumours, the news, and anything else that drew some major attention. Subscribe to Better Lait Than Never for FREE on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever else you get your podcasts from!
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