<p>The Edmonton Oilers couldn&#8217;t get anything past Jake Allen on Monday night against the Devils, and the challenge didn&#8217;t get much easier with the Vegas Golden Knights in town Wednesday for the first of four matchups of the season. Unfortunately, what ended up happening was that the Oilers needed to beat the Golden Knights and themselves to secure two points, and that didn&#8217;t happen, as costly errors and a three-goal third period allowed Vegas to erase the deficit on their way to<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-golden-knights-spoil-connor-mcdavids-return-beat-oilers-4-2"> a 4-2 win</a>.</p>
<p>I can&#8217;t even begin to express how it boggles the mind that the Oilers came into Wednesday&#8217;s game ranked 30th in NHL goal scoring. This team has way too much firepower to be struggling to score goals the way they are, but the Hockey Gords keep finding new and creative ways to keep us humble. It&#8217;s like they saw us having a bunch of fun daydreaming in the off-season about the offence this team could potentially produce and decided to rug-pull us.</p>
<p>Of course, this joke the Gords are pulling on us where the Oilers can&#8217;t score a goal to save their lives is getting old in a hurry. Edmonton was generally the better team through the first 20 minutes of last night&#8217;s game, and that made it incredibly frustrating to see them go into the break down by a goal as a result of shoddy defending. That&#8217;s not to take anything away from Jack Eichel — we all know he&#8217;s a fantastic hockey player, and he made a great move on his goal — but it was tough to ignore the lack of backchecking.</p>
<p>Heading into the second period, the Oilers didn&#8217;t necessarily have to change anything because they were playing pretty well. Outside of possibly crashing the crease a bit more to make life difficult for Adin Hill, Edmonton was already doing so much right that the only missing ingredient was a little bit of luck. What I didn&#8217;t expect, however, is that the Oilers would not only get the goals they needed in the middle frame but that a lucky bounce off the boards would be the catalyst needed to grab the lead.</p>
<p>Up by a goal with 20 minutes to play, the Oilers were in great shape to get themselves back in the win column, provided that they didn&#8217;t do anything stupid to piss it all away. Unfortunately, that is precisely what happened. Instead of exercising a killer instinct and locking down a vital win, the Oilers pissed their pants and gave up three goals in the span of only 10 minutes. Ignoring the empty-netter by Mark Stone that sealed the deal, the two goals that tied the game and eventually won it came off egregious errors that shouldn&#8217;t be happening.</p>
<p>As much as losing sucks, I think we can all handle it at this point, provided that the effort and execution are there. Sometimes shit happens, and you take an &#8216;L&#8217; from time to time, but Wednesday&#8217;s result felt different. Not only did the Oilers lose their second straight home game, but they did it via a third period implosion that was as spectacular as it was disheartening. Details that were once locked in were sloppy and disjointed, resulting in a Vegas comeback for their first road win of the season. I wish I knew the answer to Edmonton&#8217;s problem, but someone needs to figure this out quickly before they wind up under the rock of obscurity.</p>
<h1>OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING&#8230;</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I feel the same way about the Oilers&#39; penalty kill as I do about beef tartare on ice cream.</p>
<p>&mdash; Baggedmilk (@jsbmbaggedmilk) <a href="https://twitter.com/jsbmbaggedmilk/status/1854371766266736838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<ul>
<li>Jack Eichel opened the scoring (1-0) on a nifty little deke from his backhand to forehand after a pass by Shea Theodore put him in all alone on Stuart Skinner. You could see this goal coming from halfway up the ice as the Oilers got caught with another dose of shoddy defending.</li>
<li>Brett Kulak tied the game (1-1) after he wandered into Vegas&#8217; offensive zone and got his stick on Darnell Nurse&#8217;s shot from the point, perfectly redirecting the puck past Adin Hill on the glove-hand side. I don&#8217;t really know what Kulak was doing so low in the zone, but I&#8217;m not about to complain about the results.</li>
<li>Just over three minutes after Kulak tied the game, Zach Hyman gave the Oilers the lead (2-1) after the puck took a friendly bounce off a stanchion behind the net, popping right out to the charging winger who tucked it into the empty cage. The Oilers haven&#8217;t gotten many lucky bounces like that this season, and I was sure as hell happy to see it finally happen. Make it three goals in the last four games for ZMH.</li>
<li>Noah Hanifin tied the game (2-2) on the power play with a wrister from the point that made its way through traffic before beating Skinner through the legs. At this stage, I feel the same way about the Oilers&#8217; penalty kill as I do about beef tartare on ice cream. Hanifin ended up scoring the game winner (3-2) with less than a minute left on the board after yet another blown assignment in the defensive zone left him wide open for a clear shot on net. I have no idea what Evan Bouchard was doing on this play — he literally stood there and watched — but that was the second time he really mailed it in on his coverage.</li>
<li>Am I nuts when I say that this was one of Evan Bouchard&#8217;s worst games as an Oiler? Is that too much? He got caught puck watching on the first Vegas goal and on their game-winner, and I just couldn&#8217;t be more frustrated by his lack of urgency. Personally, he&#8217;s a favourite of mine and I think he&#8217;s part of the solution overall, but Wednesday&#8217;s game was rough. Yikes.</li>
<li>A lot of Oilers fans were mad at Stuart Skinner for the shorthanded goal he gave up to Noah Hanifin, but I am not one of those people. I thought Skinner was solid throughout the night, and had it not been for some horrific defending in front of him, I believe we&#8217;d be celebrating a win instead of yelling about a 4-2 loss. Either way, your mileage may vary on how you thought Stu did against Vegas but I&#8217;m not at all upset about a 31-save performance and a .912 save%.</li>
<li>I&#8217;m happy that Connor McDavid was back in the lineup, but he didn&#8217;t quite look himself either. In 21:02 of ice time, McDavid registered only two shots on goal.</li>
<li>Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may never score again. He had plenty of chances to go along with the three shots on goal he registered, but he just couldn&#8217;t get anything to go. My man has the snakebite real bad. I mean, he&#8217;s not alone there but it&#8217;s absolutely true.</li>
<li>Mattias Janmark took a big hit by Ivan Barbashev midway through the second period, and he needed to go down the hallway to the room to shake off a bit before coming back for his next shift. He tough like tractor, but my guy did not look comfortable after the hit.</li>
<li>About a shift or two after Janmark got drilled, Troy Stecher took a shot off the leg that sent him limping down the tunnel, and we didn&#8217;t get much of an update on what happened apart from hearing he&#8217;ll be alright. Either way, these dudes are animals for their willingness to block shots.</li>
<li>Someone needs to do a deep dive study on what&#8217;s going on with the Oilers&#8217; penalty kill because it&#8217;s so bad right now that it&#8217;s almost comical at this stage. At 1/2 on the evening, Edmonton&#8217;s 60.0% PK percentage actually went down a touch, which is incomprehensibly bad.</li>
<li>Even though I personally think it&#8217;s ridiculous that the Oilers only got a single power play opportunity, they didn&#8217;t do a whole lot with the chance when they got it.</li>
<li>I love faceoffs — everybody knows it — but I can&#8217;t even enjoy the fact that the Oilers won 50.9% of the draws.</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Presented by Amazon Prime Video</strong></h2>
<p><a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-162341 aligncenter" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213-1.jpg" alt="" width="795" height="404" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213-1.jpg 795w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213-1-300x152.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213-1-768x390.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px" /></a></p>
<p>This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claim your free trial today</a>.</p>


The Edmonton Oilers couldn't get anything past Jake Allen on Monday night against the Devils, and the challenge didn't get much easier with the Vegas Golden Knights in town Wednesday for the first of four matchups of the season. Unfortunately, what ended up happening was that the Oilers needed to beat the Golden Knights and themselves to secure two points, and that didn't happen, as costly errors and a three-goal third period allowed Vegas to erase the deficit on their way to<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/instant-reaction-golden-knights-spoil-connor-mcdavids-return-beat-oilers-4-2"> a 4-2 win</a>.

I can't even begin to express how it boggles the mind that the Oilers came into Wednesday's game ranked 30th in NHL goal scoring. This team has way too much firepower to be struggling to score goals the way they are, but the Hockey Gords keep finding new and creative ways to keep us humble. It's like they saw us having a bunch of fun daydreaming in the off-season about the offence this team could potentially produce and decided to rug-pull us.

Of course, this joke the Gords are pulling on us where the Oilers can't score a goal to save their lives is getting old in a hurry. Edmonton was generally the better team through the first 20 minutes of last night's game, and that made it incredibly frustrating to see them go into the break down by a goal as a result of shoddy defending. That's not to take anything away from Jack Eichel — we all know he's a fantastic hockey player, and he made a great move on his goal — but it was tough to ignore the lack of backchecking.

Heading into the second period, the Oilers didn't necessarily have to change anything because they were playing pretty well. Outside of possibly crashing the crease a bit more to make life difficult for Adin Hill, Edmonton was already doing so much right that the only missing ingredient was a little bit of luck. What I didn't expect, however, is that the Oilers would not only get the goals they needed in the middle frame but that a lucky bounce off the boards would be the catalyst needed to grab the lead.

Up by a goal with 20 minutes to play, the Oilers were in great shape to get themselves back in the win column, provided that they didn't do anything stupid to piss it all away. Unfortunately, that is precisely what happened. Instead of exercising a killer instinct and locking down a vital win, the Oilers pissed their pants and gave up three goals in the span of only 10 minutes. Ignoring the empty-netter by Mark Stone that sealed the deal, the two goals that tied the game and eventually won it came off egregious errors that shouldn't be happening.

As much as losing sucks, I think we can all handle it at this point, provided that the effort and execution are there. Sometimes shit happens, and you take an 'L' from time to time, but Wednesday's result felt different. Not only did the Oilers lose their second straight home game, but they did it via a third period implosion that was as spectacular as it was disheartening. Details that were once locked in were sloppy and disjointed, resulting in a Vegas comeback for their first road win of the season. I wish I knew the answer to Edmonton's problem, but someone needs to figure this out quickly before they wind up under the rock of obscurity.
<h1>OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING...</h1>
https://twitter.com/jsbmbaggedmilk/status/1854371766266736838
<ul>
 	<li>Jack Eichel opened the scoring (1-0) on a nifty little deke from his backhand to forehand after a pass by Shea Theodore put him in all alone on Stuart Skinner. You could see this goal coming from halfway up the ice as the Oilers got caught with another dose of shoddy defending.</li>
 	<li>Brett Kulak tied the game (1-1) after he wandered into Vegas' offensive zone and got his stick on Darnell Nurse's shot from the point, perfectly redirecting the puck past Adin Hill on the glove-hand side. I don't really know what Kulak was doing so low in the zone, but I'm not about to complain about the results.</li>
 	<li>Just over three minutes after Kulak tied the game, Zach Hyman gave the Oilers the lead (2-1) after the puck took a friendly bounce off a stanchion behind the net, popping right out to the charging winger who tucked it into the empty cage. The Oilers haven't gotten many lucky bounces like that this season, and I was sure as hell happy to see it finally happen. Make it three goals in the last four games for ZMH.</li>
 	<li>Noah Hanifin tied the game (2-2) on the power play with a wrister from the point that made its way through traffic before beating Skinner through the legs. At this stage, I feel the same way about the Oilers' penalty kill as I do about beef tartare on ice cream. Hanifin ended up scoring the game winner (3-2) with less than a minute left on the board after yet another blown assignment in the defensive zone left him wide open for a clear shot on net. I have no idea what Evan Bouchard was doing on this play — he literally stood there and watched — but that was the second time he really mailed it in on his coverage.</li>
 	<li>Am I nuts when I say that this was one of Evan Bouchard's worst games as an Oiler? Is that too much? He got caught puck watching on the first Vegas goal and on their game-winner, and I just couldn't be more frustrated by his lack of urgency. Personally, he's a favourite of mine and I think he's part of the solution overall, but Wednesday's game was rough. Yikes.</li>
 	<li>A lot of Oilers fans were mad at Stuart Skinner for the shorthanded goal he gave up to Noah Hanifin, but I am not one of those people. I thought Skinner was solid throughout the night, and had it not been for some horrific defending in front of him, I believe we'd be celebrating a win instead of yelling about a 4-2 loss. Either way, your mileage may vary on how you thought Stu did against Vegas but I'm not at all upset about a 31-save performance and a .912 save%.</li>
 	<li>I'm happy that Connor McDavid was back in the lineup, but he didn't quite look himself either. In 21:02 of ice time, McDavid registered only two shots on goal.</li>
 	<li>Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may never score again. He had plenty of chances to go along with the three shots on goal he registered, but he just couldn't get anything to go. My man has the snakebite real bad. I mean, he's not alone there but it's absolutely true.</li>
 	<li>Mattias Janmark took a big hit by Ivan Barbashev midway through the second period, and he needed to go down the hallway to the room to shake off a bit before coming back for his next shift. He tough like tractor, but my guy did not look comfortable after the hit.</li>
 	<li>About a shift or two after Janmark got drilled, Troy Stecher took a shot off the leg that sent him limping down the tunnel, and we didn't get much of an update on what happened apart from hearing he'll be alright. Either way, these dudes are animals for their willingness to block shots.</li>
 	<li>Someone needs to do a deep dive study on what's going on with the Oilers' penalty kill because it's so bad right now that it's almost comical at this stage. At 1/2 on the evening, Edmonton's 60.0% PK percentage actually went down a touch, which is incomprehensibly bad.</li>
 	<li>Even though I personally think it's ridiculous that the Oilers only got a single power play opportunity, they didn't do a whole lot with the chance when they got it.</li>
 	<li>I love faceoffs — everybody knows it — but I can't even enjoy the fact that the Oilers won 50.9% of the draws.</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Presented by Amazon Prime Video</strong></h2>
<a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img class="size-full wp-image-162341 aligncenter" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213-1.jpg" alt="" width="795" height="404" /></a>

This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claim your free trial today</a>.

Recent articles from baggedmilk

Breaking News