Things are getting ugly in Edmonton in a hurry.
One step forward, two steps back.
Modus operandi for the Oilers these days, who have now dropped 11 of their last 15 games, thanks to blowing a late lead to the New Jersey Devils Thursday night, falling 3-2 in the process.
The Oilers had built it up after responding to the Devils’ opening goal four minutes into the second, a marker in which Leon Draisaitl responded six minutes later, blasting home his 47th of the season. Evan Bouchard would give the Oilers a lead early in the third, as his long point shot found its way home.
But it didn’t take long for the Oilers’ fourth line to cough up a puck in the neutral zone, allowing the Devils’ top line to break the other way, skating circles around them in Edmonton’s end, before Jesper Bratt’s long wrist shot beat Stuart Skinner. Minutes later, Simon Nemec scored the eventual game winner.
“It’s our fourth line against their top line, and we turn the puck over, which they capitalize on,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch after the game. “It’s something that absolutely can’t happen with a 2-1 lead.“It’s disheartening that happened the way it did.”
Knoblauch’s starting to sound like he’s without answers. He’s twice called the team fragile, and slammed the team’s sloppy defensive play after their loss to Buffalo on Monday night.
It’s more than fair to question his decision-making at this point as after all, he’s the one who’s supposed to be finding answers to these problems that face his club. After running lines in practice in the two days since that Buffalo loss, Knoblauch went to the “break glass in case of emergency” option of loading up the top with Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.
But there’s a method to his madness, he says.
“We know we needed a goal, and they most likely can give us one.”
Well, fair point.
Fans are quick to jump on the coach for loading that line up. In theory, it’s justified. The Oilers should be a deeper, better team when McDavid and Draisaitl are centring their own lines, but that’s not always the case.
In Knoblauch’s eyes, it actually allows those who regularly play with them to play their own game better.
“The other guys on our team that as nice as it is to play with a McDavid, Draisaitl, they get away from their game, and they don’t…” he said with a pause. “They’re a little reluctant to do what makes many of them successful. They just defer.“When they’re away from them, playing with other guys, their game is a lot simpler, a lot more direct, and a lot more efficient. We saw that in the third period with some of the guys created scoring chances, played a lot better than they had previously.“Something I’ll obviously have to make note of in the future.”
Those are damning comments, indicative of a frustrated coach who has players that just aren’t living up to the billing. From Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, to Viktor Arvidsson — who has spent 54 percent of his five-on-five ice-time with Draisaitl — to Jeff Skinner, Adam Henrique et al, it just isn’t there right now.
“Everyone knows we’re going through a tough stretch right now, and things aren’t easy,” said defenceman Brett Kulak. “We can talk amongst ourselves in the room and we got to stick together. We can’t start pointing fingers at anyone.“None of us are happy, and that’s kind of the easy thing to do when you get frustrated. We got to stick together, and we’ll dig ourselves out.”
The Oilers are starting to approach a critical point in the season. After games against the New York Islanders Friday night and the New York Rangers Sunday night, each of their remaining 15 games are against teams in the Western Conference.
At home, they’ll host the Utah Hockey Club, Winnipeg Jets, Seattle Kraken, Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings.
On the road, they’ll visit the Kraken, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Kings, the Ducks, the Jets and the Sharks twice.
Now’s the time for them to figure this out, because in a month from now, we’ll be talking about the playoffs getting underway.
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.laing@bettercollective.com.
