After getting dunked on 7-4 by the Capitals on Wednesday night, the Oilers rolled into Tampa Bay for the second half of their back-to-back, hoping to shake off the stink and find something to feel good about. The schedule did them no favours, and the vibes heading into Tampa were about as low as they’ve been all season, but sometimes weird things happen when a team has no choice but to just lace up and play again. Whether the Oilers would be able to bounce back against a Lightning squad that still knows how to score in bunches was the question, and Thursday night offered another chance to see what kind of fight this group had left in it. And while the boys certainly showed plenty of fight early on, they also seemed to run out of gas as the game progressed. Another day, another loss. Oilers fall 2-1 in overtime.

One of the most frustrating parts about last night’s loss was how well the Oilers started the game but could not score more than the one goal by Trent Frederic. They were shooting, they were hustling, they were playing with emotion, and it was honestly refreshing to watch after so many lacklustre performances on this road trip. The Oilers were by far the better team for most of the first period, and I would even argue their start in Tampa was the best they have had all season apart from scoring as much as I did in high school. Rather than waiting for the Lightning to dictate the game, Edmonton grabbed early control and spent most of the frame in the offensive zone as a result. It was as close to perfect a road start as you could hope for except for the lack of goals on the board, which is, you know, the most important part.

And as much as we all give Andrei Vasilevskiy credit for being an incredible goaltender, it sucks that the Oilers could not score more than one goal. We all know how badly their offence is struggling, but you would think at some point the Hockey Gords would reward that kind of effort with a few badly needed goals. We have not watched the Oilers play that well very often this season, and the least the Gords could do is throw us a bone from time to time. I am not sure what kind of monkey paw B.S. is going on around here, but I am about ready to call a priest to see if the Oilers need to exorcise some kind of demon. Playing as well as they did in the first and still being unable to score was a kick to the shin at a point when we could all use a little good news. This road trip has been a slog, and it would have been nice to gut out a win like that and feel one step closer to being on the right track.

Calvin Pickard has taken a lot of heat around here this season, and rightfully so. His starts have not gone well, his numbers are dreadful, and it really was starting to feel like we were reaching the end of the line with him as the backup. We love him for the playoff wins, but fond memories do not pay the mortgage. Of course, Stan Bowman has stated multiple times that there are no goalies out there worth trading for right now — whether or not you believe him on that is up to you — and that means the Oilers need quality minutes out of Pickard when he does get the call. And for the first time this season, our pal Cal not only stepped up to the plate, he knocked the task in Tampa Bay out of the park… mostly.

I know we all want the OT winner by Jake Guentzel back, and I still have no idea how Vasilevskiy stopped Roslovic at the other end or how he missed that chance, but I think Calvin Pickard’s performance was the reason the Oilers were even able to get a point in the first place. As much as I liked Edmonton’s start, and boy was it wonderful, Pickard weathered the storm in the back half of the game when the team ran out of gas. He made some big saves throughout the night, and it is almost a shame that the team couldn’t close it out for him. At least for one night, I thought Pickard was solid. Who knows where his story goes from here or how long he even sticks with the Oilers, but of all the reasons the team lost last night, he did a whole lot more good than bad.

If there is something to watch coming out of this game in Tampa, it is whether Jake Walman will be okay after taking a hard hit from Curtis Douglas midway through the first period. Douglas hit Walman basically in the numbers, and while it was not an overly devastating check, it definitely looked like No. 96 had something going on with his knee after it happened. Even with him being able to slog it out and keep playing, I was nervous about what that knee or leg will be like when the swelling kicks in and the adrenaline wears off. The Oilers were already playing 11 and 7 because they are banged up, and the last thing they need is for Walman to miss any time.

In the second period, Walman also blocked a shot on his other leg that hobbled him for a minute, so our man took plenty of shrapnel against the Lightning. As a result, Walman wasn’t really able to finish the game even though he was dressed the whole time, staying in the room after the second intermission before hobbling back to the bench for the third. As much as we all appreciate him trying to tough it out, the hit in the first period and the blocked shot in the second forced him into only 10:03 of TOI and one shot on goal. This season has me feeling way too fragile to handle being without one of our best d-men on the stack, and I plan on following for updates on Walman hourly until he steps back on the ice Saturday in Sunrise.

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