Death, taxes and the Oilers struggling in their first game after a long break.
The issue of Edmonton falling flat in these spots has long plagued this team and it reared its ugly head Saturday, when in their first game out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they fell flat against the Philadelphia Flyers, falling 6-3.
Since Connor McDavid made his debut in 2015, the Oilers have now gone 8-14 in games which they had five or more days of rest, and 0-5 in games in which they had 10 or more days rest. The Oilers, like every other team in the league, had a nice long break as spring started to creep in, but that’s no excuse, head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“Everyone’s going through the same thing,” he said. “They had the same break and the same schedules, so no excuses on that. What’s alarming is if we don’t get better, but tonight, we got caught off guard and didn’t play well.”
Instead, what really cost the Oilers was a plethora of mistakes. All four of the Flyers’ even-strength goals came in situations where they took advantage of breakdowns in Edmonton’s game.
Matvei Michkov gets left all alone to get a rebound on the first one. Owen Tippet’s allowed to burn past a pinching Brett Kulak on the second. Sean Couturier capitalizes on Evan Bouchard puckwatching in front of the Oilers net on the third. And on the fourth, Philadelphia makes the most of poor neutral zone play that created what was essentially a 2-on-0 allowing Tippett to score his second.
“I think what really cost us was the turnovers and trying to make plays when there isn’t a play to be made or not being able to get the puck in deep,” said Knoblauch. “Four even-strength goals (against), all of them were a direct result of turnover, we’re not in a good position to defend.
“We left Skins out there to dry way too many times, giving up breakaways, two-on-0’s — it was a good, sound effort from us defensively whatsoever.”
Knoblauch would go on to highlight how the totality of turnovers couldn’t lay at the feet of Stuart Skinner, who was hung out to dry time and time again.
It wasn’t all bad for the Oilers. John Klingberg finished the game with a goal and an assist, his first points since joining the team. And then there was the brightest spot of all: Matt Savoie.
Recalled by the team this week to get his first taste of NHL action with Edmonton, Savoie got to work early with a few strong shifts, before setting up Leon Draisaitl for the Oilers second goal of the game.
It wasn’t just any old assist, either. He chased a puck dumped in by Klingberg, where hard on the forecheck, his 5’9″ frame boxed out Rasmus Ristolainen 6’4″ frame, sending a no-look backhand pass right to Draisaitl. For as impressive as the play was, highlighting elements of what he’s done well in Bakersfield this season, Knoblauch was impressed with other elements of his game, too.
“Gets on the forecheck and sets up (Draisaitl’s) goal. I think his next shift after that he made an unbelievable play on the breakout that led to a partial two-on-one. He made some defensive plays on the backcheck. I was very happy with his game.”
The Oilers will look to rebound quickly on Sunday with another matinee coming, this time against the Washington Capitals. Edmonton has handeled these spots well this year, going 6-4 in the second half of a back-to-back. They’ll need to do so again.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
