It was only a matter of time before the Edmonton Oilers would lose again, having racked up back-to-back wins against the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames.
That comedown happened Monday, with the Oilers getting shut out on home ice 3-0 by the New Jersey Devils.
It was one of those games that represented some of the early season struggles, as the Oilers struggled to get a foothold, and despite outshooting the Devils side one shot short of a two-to-one ratio, they couldn’t find a way to beat Jake Allen.
The Oilers were around it all night, generating 14 high-danger chances and 3.45 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick, a good sign. But the little things continue to plague the Oilers, like a league-worst penalty kill that gave up another goal against.
“I think that ones on me there, just taking a bit of the wrong turn,” said Oilers forward Adam Henrique when asked about the play leading to Jesper Bratt’s 2-0 marker. “Those little details, when it’s not going your way, they just seem to find the back of the net. It’s just the little details in these areas of the game, and I take responsibility for that one.”
Bratt’s goal allowed the Devils to build on a lead kicked off by Stefan Noesen 5:18 into the game and capped off in the third when Timo Meier knocked down a hail mary pass to himself, scoring on the backhand with 10:35 left in the game.
The good news in it all was the Oilers playing another strong five-on-five game, limiting a potent offensive team in New Jersey to just four five-on-five shots in the second and third period. The bad news? They need to find a way to bear down on their special teams.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, meanwhile, said while the results may not be where they want them to be, it’s positive there’s no outstanding trends leading to the goals against.
“There’s no trends, it’s not a ‘we’re giving up point shots, it’s off the entry,'” he said. “A lot of the metrics are pretty good on the penalty kill side of it, on zone denials, shots from the slot, preventing. It’s just some mistakes and they’re going in.
“Tonight, one mistake, it went in. Usually you say that’s on the goaltender, but it came from the slot. It’s doing a lot of good things, and there will be a time where we’re talking about how good it looks.”
Edmonton’s penalty kill saw a massive overhaul from last season, with two of the top-four most played defencemen, Cody Ceci and Vincent Desharnais, didn’t return to the team. Members from the forward corps didn’t return either, with Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod, fourth and sixth among forward ice-time, now plying their trade for other teams.
Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher are picking up some of those blueline penalty kill minutes, while Henrique is seeing a big spike in his ice-time there. The latter of the three said the changes are likely playing into it, but that their details need to be sharper.
“It’s a little bit of personnel change, but I think last year, you get guys in it who like to kill in pairs and have that familiarity with each other where you’re just going, and you know in the back of your head what the other guys are doing, and it just flows easy,” he said. “I think at times, we’re finding that, then there’s just little things, little details that get out of sync. Clears, little routes, they’re keeping pucks in and they’re ending up in the back of your net. It’s those little things, but they end up being big things in the end.”
“It’s the game within the game,” he later added. “Special teams can win you games, special teams can lose you games at times, then you obviously got to be solid five-on-five, but special teams play a big part of every teams role throughout the season and where you can end up at the end of the year.”
Right now, their special teams are losing them games.
Edmonton’s schedule continues Tuesday hosting the Vegas Golden Knights, before they visit the Vancouver Canucks Saturday, hopefully with Connor McDavid in tow.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
