When Leon Draisaitl found the back of the Dallas Stars’ net late in the third period, it was too little too late for the Edmonton Oilers.
By that point, the Stars had only built up a 3-0 lead, later extending it to 4-1 with an empty net goal, as Edmonton struggled to find a way to beat Jake Oettinger. The Oilers had peppered the Stars’ star netminder, throwing 73 shot attempts his way, 31 hitting Oettinger, controlling the pace of play through the game.
Despite the loss, it might’ve been one of Edmonton’s strongest performances of the season. Their top line, most notably, were big drivers, as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman found ways to generate high-danger chances all afternoon long in Saturday’s matinee. At five-on-five, they alone accounted for 1.15 goals worth of quality chances, giving up .38 against, yet were outscored 1-0.
The Oilers clearly had some jump for this game when they were squaring off against Dallas for the first time since they sent the Stars home on the ice of Rogers Place when named Western Conference Champions. After all, Dallas was the toughest opponent they had faced thus far this season. The fact they could put together such a performance was important to see, but questions in the forward group continue to linger.
Mattias Janmark found himself elevated to the Oilers’ second line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Viktor Arvidsson, and while they did a solid job of controlling play, they — much like the team’s third and fourth lines — generated next to no offensive looks.
All this comes with adding Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner to the forward corps in the offseason. Growing pains, especially early on, are to be expected. The team is still just six games into this season, eight percent through the 82-game schedule, and while Skinner has looked solid so far, leading the league in five-on-five shots on goal coming into Saturday’s games and scoring two goals and four points in six games, Arvidsson has not.
He hasn’t been a liability on the ice, but the offence just hasn’t arrived, with no points and nine shots on goal in six games. He missed significant time last season due to injury, but still played in 18 regular season games down the stretch, and five in the playoffs, looking no worse for wear. The points will come for a player who’s historically scored at a .66 point per game clip, but there’s no denying Oilers fans were hoping it would arrive sooner, rather than later.
The Oilers will return home to Edmonton to host the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday.
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.
