I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that the Oilers were far from their best with the Panthers in town on Thursday. Despite being built up as a Stanley Cup rematch, Edmonton was mightily outworked by a shorthanded Florida club that wound up controlling the night from start to finish. Sunday’s homestand finale wasn’t going to get any easier. With the Tampa Bay Lightning in town, the Oilers would need to come up with a complete 60-minute effort or risk a second straight loss to the Sunshine State. Of course, the bad news is that this didn’t happen. Instead, we got some flashes of promise, a few unlucky rings off the post, and a whole bunch of mistakes winding up in the net. Final score: 5-2 Lightning

In a game filled with back-and-forth chances at even strength, is it any surprise that the special teams factored into the final score? I didn’t think so either. Unfortunately, the Oilers came out on the wrong side of the battle, losing both sides of the special teams race in a rather disappointing fashion. While Edmonton’s power play is usually nails for them at times when they need it most, the man advantage hasn’t been the same since Leon Draisaitl has been out of the lineup. The same story played out on Sunday against the Lightning. Only this time, the power play not only went goalless despite more than a few opportunities, including a lengthy 5-on-3, but it also gave up what ended up being Nikita Kucherov’s first shortie of his career.

At the other end of the rink, the penalty kill got tagged for a goal on three shorthanded situations. Jake Guentzel was given all kinds of time and space down near the crease, and when a guy that good has enough room to set up a tent, you know the puck is probably going to wind up in the net. It doesn’t take a big math guy to figure out that going dash-two on special teams is probably going to ruin your night, and that’s exactly what happened. Tampa Bay was able to cash in on their opportunities, while the Oilers looked like they were always a quarter turn off of finding the magic. Either way, it’s hard to look at the boxscore from last night’s loss and not start with the letdown on special teams a big part of the story.

If you thought for a second that I wasn’t about to include Josh Samanski‘s first NHL goal in my wrap-up after I predicted he would score it in yesterday’s GDB, then you don’t know me at all. I rarely get these NSOGDP predictions right, and after listening to Gregor brag about his hits in the game prediction for the last 13 years, there was no way I wasn’t going to include my first. If you don’t know, the Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction is where we take swings at something random that might happen that night, and my record over the last 13 years is, to say the least, a little bit tragic. This was big for me. This was the first step in stealing Gregor’s sorcerous powers.

More importantly, you have to love seeing Samanski get rewarded with his first NHL goal. It’s one of those milestones I’ll never get tired of seeing. Sure, you could argue that his first was as about as greasy as it gets, an own goal that took a friendly bounce off the defenceman’s stick, but even the ugly ones are beautiful with a little space. With 14 NHL games under his belt, you know Samanski was probably dying to get something over the line. Gord knows he’s had plenty of chances to crack and find the scoresheet, and it’s almost funny that what finally went in for him was a scrambled play from the boards. Either way, I’m sure years from now Samanski will tell his grandkids that he went coast-to-coast and buried something under the bar, but in the meantime, I’m giving him props for his first NHL goal and offering any sacrifices necessary to ensure that there are plenty more to come.

After missing just under two weeks with an undisclosed injury, Ty Emberson was back in the lineup for the first time since leaving mid-game against the Colorado Avalanche. From my side of the TV screen, getting him back on the third pair is a quietly big win for the Oilers’ d-group. By no means is Emberson a flashy player, but he’s been quietly turning in just under 16 minutes per night while getting the majority of his starts in the defensive end. Despite having a rotation cast of players swapping in beside him, my take on Emberson is that he’s been getting better as the season wears on, and that he’s a clear upgrade for that sixth spot than Spencer Stastney right now.

Despite playing a defensive low of 13:18, Emberson was one of two defenders to finish with a positive plus-minus. I know we don’t care about that stat much anymore, but I do think it’s notable on a night when five pucks wound up in the net. Outside of keeping his house clean, Emberson also put one shot on net, had two hits, and gave the puck away twice. That’s a decent night’s work, no? Not that I’m saying he’s the perfect person for that position or that he was so outstanding that we should be mapping out statue plans, but I do think that he’s the kind of steady d-man that tends to help more than he hurts, and it goes without saying that this team needs more guys like that right now. All I know for sure is that I’m happy to have him back in the lineup. Now to hope he can stay healthy.

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