Unfortunately for the Edmonton Oilers, NHL hockey games last for sixty minutes rather than ten.
The Oilers hosted the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night after salvaging their five-game Eastern Conference road trip with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes on the weekend. The momentum lasted for the first part of the first period and then the home side imploded in a 6-2 loss.
Leon Draisaitl buried a power play goal following an excellent pass from Connor McDavid to put Edmonton up 1-0. Anaheim then responded with four consecutive goals before the end of the first frame while the Oilers spiralled.
“I thought our start was outstanding,” Head coach Knris Knoblauch said after the game. “I thought we were skating well, moving the puck, and we spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. And then the goal against, a couple of guys stopped playing because they thought the puck went over the glass. It didn’t and we got caught on a goal against.We’re a fragile team and when things aren’t going well, we lose our game. I thought our start was exactly how we needed to play and guys were ready and then there was a little bit of adversity and we’re a shell of ourselves.”
Veteran winger Corey Perry echoed his coach’s sentiments after the game, noting that a strong start with lots of energy got completely derailed when one mistake led to a goal against.
“The first 10 minutes we controlled the game and came out with a lot of energy,” Perry said. “Then one mistake was in the back of our net and we can’t seem to get over that. Then things just unraveled. It’s frustrating because we had a good start. We need to figure it out.”
It was a disastrous start for goaltender Calvin Pickard, who allowed four goals on eleven shots before getting yanked in the first intermission. Stuart Skinner entered the game for the second and third periods and allowed two more goals on 16 shots.
Pickard made 35 stops in the team’s win over the Hurricanes on Saturday and was given the nod to make back-to-back starts for his first time with the Oilers. Despite the poor showing, Knoblauch didn’t pin the loss on goaltending, noting that the team needs to do a better job at defending.
“It certainly wasn’t the performance that Calvin had in Carolina,” Knoblauch said. “There were some breakaways and opportunities where they were left all alone, like the their first goal against. You’d like a save or two, but I’d also like us to defend the dangerous areas of the ice a lot better than we did.”
From Anaheim’s perspective, that was a statement victory after the team fell by a score of 6-3 to the basement-dwelling Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Head coach Greg Cronin was impressed with how his team battled back after the Oilers dominated the first few minutes of the game.
“We were actually upset with ourselves for the performance we had against Chicago. We had a sloppy game,” Cronin said. “I thought the first eight minutes before Leo scored we were on our heels, but I loved the way we responded after the first goal. We kind of got into a rhythm and played the right way and we were fortunate to come out with a win here.”
The Oilers will host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday in their final game before Friday’s trade deadline. They’ll host the Dallas Stars on Saturday night before going on a four-game road trip through Buffalo, New Jersey, and New York.
