The Day After 49.0: Oilers sloppy in streak busting 3-2 OT loss to the Blue Jackets… and it hurts

Photo credit:Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

1 year ago

That’s a tough way to wrap up a really nice run of hockey for the Oilers. Final Score: 3-2 Blue Jackets in OT

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Heading into last night’s game against Columbus, all I could think about was how the Oilers just needed to keep playing their game and they would be fine. Not only were the boys in the midst of a six-game win streak leading into round one of the season series, but Columbus is objectively horrible, and on paper, that meant we should have been in line for an easy pair of points. I know we’ve been hurt in these kinds of situations before, but I was still feeling bullish anyway as I made my way into Rogers Place for the first time this season. The way I looked at the situation, beating the Blue Jackets would actually be doing both teams a favour: the Oilers need the points and Columbus is in the process of Sucking Hard for Bedard® — it was a win-win situation. And with the table set with a situation that was beneficial to all parties, there was very little room for excuses. The Oilers needed to win. So to get the result we did against a team that had no business winning in our home rink was inexcusable even though it wasn’t the first nor the last time this will happen.

Being at Rogers Place last night was a rollercoaster of emotions, man. Right from the jump, the crowd was bumping and ready to watch the Oilers demolish a bottom-feeder team and blow the roof off the place. The vibes were great, DJ was pumping tunes on full blast — it was fantastic. And to start, the Oilers were running the show and the only thing keeping the dam from breaking was an equally impressive run by Joonas Korpisalo. He was kicking everything out, guy was dialed in and stayed that way for 62+ minutes. But even so, the Oilers just weren’t as sharp as they had been throughout the winning streak. Passes were a foot too short or too long, and rather than playing the simple north-south style that had them collecting points, they got set on passing the puck to everyone but each other. It was sloppy. The post-game interviews were all the same too, with every player to a man talking about varying details of the night that they need to real back in. At the end of the day, the Oilers played down to their opponent and it cost them the chance at an additional point in the standings, which is a major bummer given how well they had been playing leading up to this point. If anything, I hope this loss is a nice reality check for everyone in an Oilers jersey that there are no gimmes in this league. Now, let’s see what happens against Chicago.

PRESENTED BY BETWAY

FIRST PERIOD

A couple of us at the game put a few pennies down on Zach Hyman to score the first goal of the game and by crumb did he ever have a few beautiful chances.
Why is it that Boone Jenner always seems to score (1-0) against the Oilers? It was the exact response goal I hate too, one where the Oilers have a few good chances for a goal but can’t quite get the job done only to have the puck turn around the other way and wind up in the net shortly thereafter. Those are the ones that boggle the mind friends.
Even with the Jenner goal Stuart Skinner was rock solid between the pipes and that new set of
While I do appreciate that the Oilers outshot CBJ 11-9, not enough of those shots were quality chances to score.

SECOND PERIOD

Derek Ryan’s goal (1-1) was the result of a very pretty shot, and it had me and Tyler talking about how skilled 4th liners are in this league even though they’re the last ones to ever get any credit for it.
As much as I was bummed that Zach Hyman couldn’t cash in the first goal of the night, he redeemed himself with a greasy power play goal (2-1) in the crease to give the Oilers the lead.
The second period was by far the Oilers’ best of the night, but the problem was that we only got them executing at this level for 30% of the game. Even the worst teams in the NHL can find a way around that, ya know?

THIRD PERIOD

Heading into the third period with the lead, I was confident in my seat that the Oilers were going to find a way to close this thing out. The slow start was behind them and they could now focus on shutting the door as they had against the Golden Knights, Kraken, and Lightning. But as the Oilers’ struggles with the puck continued, a window was open for Kirill Marchenko to tie the game (2-2) near the midway point of the period.
Despite outshooting the Blue Jackets 12-8 in the final frame, I actually thought Columbus had the better quality opportunities despite not matching Edmonton’s volume.

OT

The pass attempts on our side, oh my Gord. People were getting passes even if they weren’t looking.
When Kent Johnson (3-2) wrapped the game up in OT, it was almost like we could all see it coming. And when the puck went in, you could feel the air get sucked out of the room. Pain.

OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING

1) The Oilers won the special teams battle again, going 1/1 on the power play while allowing nothing on either of Columbus’ two chances with the man advantage. Why the Oilers got only one chance on the PP is beyond me, but

2) The Oilers are 0-2-2 in the reverse retro jerseys. I think adding the orange trim to an otherwise beautiful uniform may have cursed them. It was like… yeah, we get it, you like orange. The O.G. ones were pretty dope on their own if you’re one of the few like me that actually liked the originals.

3) Not sure what was going on with Leon Draisaitl last night, but he looked anything but himself. At best, disengaged would be a pretty good way to describe his night. That said, he did get robbed of what looked like a sure goal from his office near the circle.

4) Why are we booing Johnny Gaudreau? I don’t get it. I applaud Gaudreau for the way he bailed on the play in OT that resulted in McDavid’s OT winner. I celebrate Johnny Gaudreau.

5) Joonas Korpisalo was a huge part of the reason the Oilers didn’t win this hockey game. His .944 save% was well earned as he stoned the Oilers on a handful of really nice looks on net, no better than the glove save he made on Draisaitl from the doorstep.

6) I can’t even appreciate that the Oilers won 55% of the faceoffs.

7) I guess if you’re going to lose the way to do it is in OT when you still get a point, but this bullet point is honestly a massive stretch given how poor the result was. Flush this one and forget it.

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