The October Oilers were back on Monday against New Jersey.
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Despite outshooting the Devils 31-16, they were unable to find the back of the net in a 3-0 loss that dropped them to 6-6-1 on the season. Sound familiar?
The Oilers’ sticks seemed cursed from the beginning, with Adam Henrique missing two glorious chances from right in front of the net against his former club. The Devils didn’t wait long to make them pay. Stefan Noesen took advantage of Dougie Hamilton’s net-front presence to fire one past Calvin Pickard to put New Jersey up 1-0 just five minutes in.
That score held through the first, despite the Oilers’ best efforts. Zach Hyman was robbed on two dangerous chances by Devils netminder Jake Allen, while Henrique was stymied yet again after a tough turnover from Devil Jonas Siegenthaler.
The Oilers’ rotten luck continued into the middle frame. Vasily Podkolzin, still looking for his first goal as an Oiler despite showing great chemistry with Leon Draisaitl, missed a game-tying marker by millimetres early in the period.
The Oilers dominated the shot clock in the second, outshooting the Devils 10-3. Despite that dominance, the Oilers were undone by their other early-season bugaboo: the penalty kill.
Edmonton took a too-many-men penalty with just four minutes left in the second, never a sign that things are going well. Sure enough, Jesper Bratt made them pay, squeaking a shot under Pickard’s pad from the slot. 2-0 Devils after two.
From there, the Oilers unravelled. They still outshot New Jersey 8-3 in the final frame, but they were listless and flat and looked totally disinterested. It was like the powerplay marker completely deflated them. Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier took advantage of a Zach Hyman turnover at the Devils’ blueline for a highlight-reel goal, and that was that.
The analytics are more kind to the Oilers. MoneyPuck gave them a slight edge in expected goals: 3.29 to 2.81, or 65.3% on the Deserve To Win O’Meter. Head coach Kris Knoblauch agrees, bringing up after the game that the Oilers have been creating a lot of high-danger chances all season long.
But eventually, those chances have to turn into goals, and the Oilers can’t wait much longer. Knoblauch also said that the penalty kill deserves better than it’s gotten so far this season. That may be true, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that the Oilers have far and away the worst PK unit in the league.
One loss isn’t the end of the world, and the Oilers did still outplay a good team on Monday night. But it gets late early in the NHL, and the Oilers can’t afford to be dogged by these same issues all year long.
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