Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
The Edmonton Oilers played the second game of a back-to-back on Tuesday, falling 6-1 to the Blue Jackets to bring their season record to 4-5-1. Before we look at the goals and takeaways, let’s discuss the Connor McDavid injury.
On the first shift of the game, McDavid was tripped by Zack Werenski, crashing left ankle first into the boards. After a few strides, he couldn’t put any weight on the leg and called for a line change. A few minutes later, the Oilers reported that the captain would not return.
There should’ve been a tripping penalty here, even if it was unintentional. Shortly after, Viktor Arvidsson lost an edge and hit the Blue Jackets goalie, giving the Blue Jackets a power play opportunity. On the first shot of the game under three minutes into the game for the Blue Jackets, Sean Monahan tipped the puck past Stuart Skinner for his fourth goal of the season.
Midway through the first period, the Jackets took a 2-0 lead, as Adam Fantilli was left alone in the slot, beating Skinner on the short side. With just under five and a half minutes left in the first period, a shot from the point by Cole Sillinger beat Skinner to give the Blue Jackets a 3-0 lead going into the second intermission.
Seven minutes into the second period, Mathieu Olivier won a puck battle behind the Oilers’ net, eventually pushing it out front. After a rebound, the puck landed on his stick, making no mistake to put the Blue Jackets up 4-0.
The Blue Jackets were back on the board late in the third period, as Skinner bit a little too hard on Fantilli’s fake, passing it across to Mikael Pyyhtiä, who had a gaping net for his first NHL goal.
Monahan added his second of the game less than two minutes later, as the puck ricocheted off the boards from a point shot, with Monahan putting the puck into the wide-open net. The Oilers scored a consolation goal on the power play in the final minute of the game, as Mattias Ekholm’s point shot beat Elvis Merzļikins to break up the shutout.
Takeaways…
Losing 6-1 is not fun, but losing the best player in the game is even worse. After the game, head coach Kris Knoblauch said that McDavid is travelling back to Edmonton to get evaluated. It seems likely that the Oilers will re-call a player from Bakersfield, likely Noah Philp as Bob Stauffer alluded to during the second intermission.
It’s also worth noting that TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported that “it’s nothing too serious” in the early stages. Let’s hope that’s the case.
Despite outshooting the Blue Jackets 32-25 and winning 61.8% of the faceoffs, the Oilers once again lost. Special teams were a big struggle again, as the Oilers have not allowed a goal on the penalty kill in seven of 10 games so far this season. Moreover, the atrocious power play was even worse without McDavid, going one-for-six thanks to a late goal from Mattias Ekholm.
It’s a coincidence, but the Oilers have yet to win a game without a fight. They are 4-0-0 when they fight and 0-5-1 without a fight.
The Oilers return to action on Thursday, as they’ll head to Nashville to face the Predators for the second time in two weeks. Funnily enough, all three games against the Central Division team come on a Thursday over the first six weeks.
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