That&#8217;s a tough one. A save would&#8217;ve been nice. Final score: 5-3.

That may have been the best <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/02/23/game-recap-51-0-edmonton-oilers-at-tampa-bay-lightning/">game</a> the Oilers played all season. Nice work all around, sans the goaltending performance from Mike Smith. Brutal. BaggedMilk has the <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/02/23/game-recap-51-0-edmonton-oilers-at-tampa-bay-lightning/">Wrap Up</a> here.
<h1>The Clips</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
devin shore kicks it into his own net, and mike smith is unable to do anything about it. maroon credited for the goal and the bolts have a 1-0 lead. <a href="https://t.co/7KggEdhJQM">pic.twitter.com/7KggEdhJQM</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496654045217374209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
connor. mcdavid. he&#8217;s been buzzing through the whole first period and snipes one on the powerplay. 1-1. <a href="https://t.co/fmKsWwLjk1">pic.twitter.com/fmKsWwLjk1</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496656181892317184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
rumours of mike smith&#8217;s demise have not been exaggerated enough. two goals against on four shots as steven stamkos makes it a 2-1 game. <a href="https://t.co/8WJhzfIreY">pic.twitter.com/8WJhzfIreY</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496657401092575232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
ryan mcleod with a great look but he just loses the handle on it. <a href="https://t.co/f5B2lwVg8b">pic.twitter.com/f5B2lwVg8b</a>
&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496662278128603138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
oh boy. mike smith can&#8217;t hold his post and brayden point bangs one home. 3-1 tampa. <a href="https://t.co/hddkqCwQtl">pic.twitter.com/hddkqCwQtl</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496666456515252226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
as pointed out on the american feed, mike smith was &quot;giving an earful to a couple of his young defenceman&quot; about their coverage in front on the brayden point goal. <a href="https://t.co/bYxPzUj9k6">pic.twitter.com/bYxPzUj9k6</a>
&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496674873736790020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
victor hedman clips leon draisaitl up high, and the latter chooses violence. <a href="https://t.co/f6s0jdQzoy">https://t.co/f6s0jdQzoy</a> <a href="https://t.co/aLsrNjYZ3g">pic.twitter.com/aLsrNjYZ3g</a>
&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496667826924376064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
tampa is pouring it on and mike smith can&#8217;t make a stop. 4-1 tb. <a href="https://t.co/tY181JrHDA">pic.twitter.com/tY181JrHDA</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496668767304048642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
zach hyman gets a breakaway and capitalizes making it a two-goal game. <a href="https://t.co/Mny11guLgc">pic.twitter.com/Mny11guLgc</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496669622711455746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
mcdavid x2! he makes it a one-goal game halfway through the third period. <a href="https://t.co/bhKB9A6IkA">pic.twitter.com/bhKB9A6IkA</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496679369904906245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<h1>The Quotes</h1>
<h2>Connor McDavid</h2>
On the game: &#8220;I like parts of our game for sure. We generated lots of chances. I thought we did an alright job keeping them in check, but they&#8217;re a great team. They do a lot of really great things. They find ways to win games and that&#8217;s what they did tonight.&#8221;
On defensive breakdowns, the goals allowed: &#8220;It&#8217;s just details right? It&#8217;s little things. Against a team like that every play matters. They take advantage of what you give them. We gave them just a little too much.&#8221;
On a two-goal night, but the team still losing: &#8220;It&#8217;s always disappointing to lose. Like I said, I liked parts of our game. It&#8217;s disappointing obviously.&#8221;
<h2>Jay Woodcroft</h2>
On the game: &#8220;I thought it was a competitive hockey game for our team tonight. Coming in to face the two-time Stanley Cup Champions, we gave up 23 shots on net. I think there were a few breakdowns. There were some weird goals — one we kicked into our own net. We were trying to do the right thing, we just came back into our own paint and it went off our foot and into the net. We gave up two six-on-five goals. A penalty kill goal against in the last few seconds of that. Are there some things we can do better? Yeah, there are some things we can do better. In terms of the compete level of our team, coming into a tough environment, there were some real good signs in our team game tonight.&#8221;
On Mike Smith having a high compete level, if he talked with smith during the game, and what&#8217;s next for him: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t have a conversation during the game with mike. At the end of the day, we&#8217;re in a one-goal hockey game. they scored an empty netter at the end of the game. I think he tried to battle through some things and he made some saves for us as well. We had a chance to win that game. Like i said, we gave up 23 shots on net. That&#8217;s a good thing. Were there some breakdowns that we can be better at as a team? Yes, there were. We&#8217;re going to work to address those. Like I said, we were in a one-goal game in a tough environment against the Stanley Cup champions. There was a lot of good in that game as well.&#8221;
On details vs. a good team: &#8220;They&#8217;re a very, very good hockey team that&#8217;s far along in their evolution as a team. The core of that team has been together a long time. They&#8217;re very rehearsed and practiced in how they play the game. If I was a fan watching that game tonight, that was an excellent hockey game. There was chances both ways. We hit a post at the end of the game, could&#8217;ve tied it up but it didn&#8217;t go in for us. I think the compete, the effort on our team&#8217;s part was there. One bounce here or there&#8230; it didn&#8217;t go our way tonight.&#8221;
On getting points on this road trip: &#8220;I think if you just look at it from that perspective, you&#8217;re not concentrating on your process. We want to steer the conversation for our team towards process and making sure we&#8217;re playing the game the right way so we&#8217;ll be in position to take points in every game that we play. That&#8217;s where our focus is. We&#8217;re going to get on a plane tonight, we&#8217;re going to go to Florida, we&#8217;re going to digest this game, work on some of the things we need to work on and we&#8217;re going to be prepared to play another real quality hockey team in the Florida Panthers. Just to look at the end result of things, to look at how many points to get here or there, I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s conducive to us moving the needle. I think we have to continue to concentrate on our process and making sure we&#8217;re playing the game in the right way limiting certain things. If we do that, we&#8217;ll be where we want to be at the end.&#8221;
<hr />
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
<hr />

That's a tough one. A save would've been nice. Final score: 5-3.



That may have been the best <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/02/23/game-recap-51-0-edmonton-oilers-at-tampa-bay-lightning/">game</a> the Oilers played all season. Nice work all around, sans the goaltending performance from Mike Smith. Brutal. BaggedMilk has the <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/02/23/game-recap-51-0-edmonton-oilers-at-tampa-bay-lightning/">Wrap Up</a> here.
<h1>The Clips</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
devin shore kicks it into his own net, and mike smith is unable to do anything about it. maroon credited for the goal and the bolts have a 1-0 lead. <a href="https://t.co/7KggEdhJQM">pic.twitter.com/7KggEdhJQM</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496654045217374209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
connor. mcdavid. he's been buzzing through the whole first period and snipes one on the powerplay. 1-1. <a href="https://t.co/fmKsWwLjk1">pic.twitter.com/fmKsWwLjk1</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496656181892317184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
rumours of mike smith's demise have not been exaggerated enough. two goals against on four shots as steven stamkos makes it a 2-1 game. <a href="https://t.co/8WJhzfIreY">pic.twitter.com/8WJhzfIreY</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496657401092575232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496662278128603138
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
oh boy. mike smith can't hold his post and brayden point bangs one home. 3-1 tampa. <a href="https://t.co/hddkqCwQtl">pic.twitter.com/hddkqCwQtl</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496666456515252226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496674873736790020
https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496667826924376064
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
tampa is pouring it on and mike smith can't make a stop. 4-1 tb. <a href="https://t.co/tY181JrHDA">pic.twitter.com/tY181JrHDA</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496668767304048642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
zach hyman gets a breakaway and capitalizes making it a two-goal game. <a href="https://t.co/Mny11guLgc">pic.twitter.com/Mny11guLgc</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496669622711455746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
mcdavid x2! he makes it a one-goal game halfway through the third period. <a href="https://t.co/bhKB9A6IkA">pic.twitter.com/bhKB9A6IkA</a>
— zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1496679369904906245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<h1>The Quotes</h1>
<h2>Connor McDavid</h2>
On the game: "I like parts of our game for sure. We generated lots of chances. I thought we did an alright job keeping them in check, but they're a great team. They do a lot of really great things. They find ways to win games and that's what they did tonight."

On defensive breakdowns, the goals allowed: "It's just details right? It's little things. Against a team like that every play matters. They take advantage of what you give them. We gave them just a little too much."

On a two-goal night, but the team still losing: "It's always disappointing to lose. Like I said, I liked parts of our game. It's disappointing obviously."
<h2>Jay Woodcroft</h2>
On the game: "I thought it was a competitive hockey game for our team tonight. Coming in to face the two-time Stanley Cup Champions, we gave up 23 shots on net. I think there were a few breakdowns. There were some weird goals — one we kicked into our own net. We were trying to do the right thing, we just came back into our own paint and it went off our foot and into the net. We gave up two six-on-five goals. A penalty kill goal against in the last few seconds of that. Are there some things we can do better? Yeah, there are some things we can do better. In terms of the compete level of our team, coming into a tough environment, there were some real good signs in our team game tonight."

On Mike Smith having a high compete level, if he talked with smith during the game, and what's next for him: "I didn't have a conversation during the game with mike. At the end of the day, we're in a one-goal hockey game. they scored an empty netter at the end of the game. I think he tried to battle through some things and he made some saves for us as well. We had a chance to win that game. Like i said, we gave up 23 shots on net. That's a good thing. Were there some breakdowns that we can be better at as a team? Yes, there were. We're going to work to address those. Like I said, we were in a one-goal game in a tough environment against the Stanley Cup champions. There was a lot of good in that game as well."

On details vs. a good team: "They're a very, very good hockey team that's far along in their evolution as a team. The core of that team has been together a long time. They're very rehearsed and practiced in how they play the game. If I was a fan watching that game tonight, that was an excellent hockey game. There was chances both ways. We hit a post at the end of the game, could've tied it up but it didn't go in for us. I think the compete, the effort on our team's part was there. One bounce here or there... it didn't go our way tonight."

On getting points on this road trip: "I think if you just look at it from that perspective, you're not concentrating on your process. We want to steer the conversation for our team towards process and making sure we're playing the game the right way so we'll be in position to take points in every game that we play. That's where our focus is. We're going to get on a plane tonight, we're going to go to Florida, we're going to digest this game, work on some of the things we need to work on and we're going to be prepared to play another real quality hockey team in the Florida Panthers. Just to look at the end result of things, to look at how many points to get here or there, I don't think that's conducive to us moving the needle. I think we have to continue to concentrate on our process and making sure we're playing the game in the right way limiting certain things. If we do that, we'll be where we want to be at the end."

<hr />

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.

<hr />

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