The Edmonton Oilers had a strong game versus the Calgary Flames and it appears several elements of the team’s game have settled in. The top two lines, the defense and Stuart Skinner look like they can deliver a quality (and repeatable) performance. The Dallas Stars beat the Flames last night and will play the second of a back-to-back this evening at Rogers. Important game. Hurry sundown.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Will Edmonton Oilers redeem themselves after baffling October?
- Lowetide: Can the Edmonton Oilers make room for Raphael Lavoie?
- DNB: Oilers rewarded for their season’s most complete game in Heritage Classic win
- Lowetide: Oilers top prospect Xavier Bourgault is spiking in an important area
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers’ injuries already a major story in 2023-24
- Lowetide: Can the Oilers count on any short-term help from AHL Bakersfield?
- Lowetide: Can defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer help the Oilers?
- DNB: Connor McDavid’s injury only adds to gloom for Oilers
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers’ third line showing promise but not scoring yet
- DNB: Oilers, in early-season disarray, left searching for answers: ‘It’s just unacceptable’
- Lowetide: What we’ve learned about the Oilers in the NHL season’s first week
- Lowetide: How can Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft solve the team’s early issues?
- Lowetide: Why the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL team is set up for 2023-24 success
- DNB: Several Oilers defensive issues remain despite Mattias Ekholm’s return
- Lowetide: How the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor Brown contract could impact roster decisions
- DNB: Stanley Cup-aspiring Oilers have a long way to go after ‘big gut punch’ in season opener
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ opening-night roster is short two foundational pieces
- DNB: Why Raphael Lavoie didn’t make the Oilers and other roster questions ahead of regular-season opener
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Brady Stonehouse signing an important indicator for the future
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ veteran-laden AHL team offers better depth
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: DAL, NAS (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: VAN, SJS, SEA (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: NYI, SEA (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: TBY, FLA, CAR, WAS (Expected 1-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: ANA, VEG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: WPG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Actual November results: 0-0-0, 0 points in 0 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 2-5-1, 5 points in 8 games
I don’t trust this team as far as I can throw it, so a .500 month seems right from here. There is a window for a good streak of wins, I think the first six games offer a real opportunity. That road trip to the southeast, though. Will the Kraken do to the Oilers what the Canucks did in October?
LINES AND PAIRINGS
- McDavid-Draisaitl-Foegele
- Kane-Nuge-Hyman
- Holloway-McLeod-Brown
- Ryan-Gagner
- Nurse-Ceci
- Ekholm-Bouchard
- Kulak-Desharnais/Broberg
- Skinner (Campbell)
I have no idea how they’ll run Sam Gagner but it does matter. The third line is trash right now offensively. He could provide a spark if he gets there.
I’m down on this team.
I know Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan McLeod will get completely healthy and 97 will carry the weight, but you see that’s the problem. Vegas Golden Knights built a better mousetrap. The Oilers aren’t trying to get better now, they’re waiting until the deadline to swing deals.
Sam Pollock used to have Scotty Bowman play the kids early in the year to see if they could improve. If they did, come spring time they would be on the playoff roster. Those who were expendable got dealt for Frank Mahovlich, and many players with flaws (Yvon Lambert’s foot speed could be timed by sundial) found work with the Habs.
It can be done.
Ken Holland is having Jay Woodcroft play the veterans over the kids and so we already know the answer next spring. Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg and Raphael Lavoie need to play. Otherwise they’re going to be as they are next spring. To everything there is a season. A time to plant, a time to reap. A time to every purpose under Heaven.
Except in Edmonton.
This is a huge game and we’ll cover it wall to wall on the Lowdown, noon-2pm on Sports 1440. Bagged Milk from Oilers Nation will join us and we’ll also chat World Series and the marvel of the Texas Rangers. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
The Oilers may have great fancies on xG and HD chances, but those can be misleading. I didn’t see many actually dangerous offensive plays for a team with this much skill, and haven’t. Even on PP. The danger there was only Bouch’s shot, which is not stoppable if he hits between the pipes. Sam’s first one was will more than skill
And as we saw top cheddar is far more likely to score than all of the ‘in the breadbasket’ and ‘another pad save – he didn’t have to move much on that one’, ‘missed that one by a foot’ the others manage
So every goalie is Tretiak it seems when we play them. I think it’s more that they make 40 routine saves, and Bouch is the only Oiler that shoots for the top of the net regularly
Including Drai and his one shot that isn’t working right now. And our goalie sucks because he is facing a lot of very dangerous plays, and isn’t being Tretiak to bail their befuddled butts out
I for one believe our best prospects Malone and Griffith have been marinating in Kenny’s secret barbecue sauce long
enough. It’s time to give these young lads a cup of coffee and see what we have brewing for the future.
I am glad the Oilers played Gagner to show the others what playing with some emotion and heart is all about. I see him, Kane (lately), Desharnais (usually) as the few playing with some emotion. Anyone see others?
Time to make some logical moves.
Enough of this 7 D bullshit. Send Broberg down to get more ice time and find a rhythm until he makes a very strong case to come back up. Bring up a 7 D to sit in the press box. Send Brown down for “conditioning” (no one is going to claim him) and if he can’t make a case for coming back up in a month or so, save the team cap hell next year. Bring up Lavoie for top 9. Bring up a fire plug for the 4th line. IT really isn’t that complicated.
Add Foegele to the list of players consistently playing with emotion. Agreed on the 7D – it’s had it’s time and place and is not working right now.
This team needs an enema.
You win that game 4/7, and against a good team. They were on a back to back, should have been able to fire the kill shot. A better bottom 6 effort them there, a healthy McDavid wins that game probably. Leon also looks off.
Alas I knew when they started Oettinger in Calgary this was going to mean trouble. Do we have data on backups’ save % against Oilers?
When Sir Holland returns from his African Safari trip with Bowman he has to fire Woody who has run out of ideas and motivation. There’s still delusional fans that think we can still catch Vegas when Kenny finally gets us a new coach this team will get the much needed. dead cat bounce.
Well at least the defensive blunders have moved from the defensive zone to on the rush. You’d like a goalie to make a save for you, but losing that game was just poor luck, nothing else. Also #97 isn’t healthy.
With Brown injured, I’m thinking Kenny is probably on the phone with Stevie to see what might be available. Kostin would be nice, but not if it’s an overpay, which it will be. I’m guessing something truly terrible like Kostin and future considerations for Ryan, Lavoie and a pair of 2nd round picks. Right in Kenny’s wheelhouse.
Kostin has the same number of goals as the rest of the Oiler’s bottom six. Two less than Sam Gagner.
He has not been on for a GF this season and makes $2MM X 2, I believe.
Didn’t realize it till tonight but prior to playing last season for WPG, Gagner played the prior three seasons for … wait for it … Detroit. Gotta love Kenny.
Holland was the one who traded him there for Athanasiou.
Holland was actually the one who traded him to Detroit for Athanasiou.
Send Broberg down if necessary, Janmark and/or Brown to LTIR. Brown especially, rest and then practice for a while to get up to speed for real.
Hyman-McDavid-Holloway
Kane-Draisatl-Gagner
Foegele-Nuge-Lavoie
Bourgalt-Mcleod-Ryan
D is whatever. If Desharnais had more speed I’d say try a shutdown pair with Ekholm and let Bouchard have easier matchups with Kulak, but not sure that would work. Stuck with Nurse-Ceci I think.
Oddly, Oilers lead the league in xGF% on Natural Stattrick. Soft schedule and score effects contribute I’m sure. But they need a goalie. Fingers crossed Campbell can find a hot streak. Or honestly, waive one of them and give Pickard/Rodrigue a shot, they’ve been solid (based on stats, I have not watched).
No mention of Connor Brown leaving with a lower body injury in his 9th game of the season?
Could be a blessing.
It would be inexcusable for Kenny to leave the next GM with that cap hit. Full stop.
There isn’t much doubt a stint for him on LTIR would benefit the team. Good fancies or not, in the word’s of MacT, you at least have to be a threat to score… and I haven’t seen much.
Just seeing the highlights now and well, enjoy those two goals from Gagner, because he always will regress to the mean and the mean sucks.
Meanwhile another 23 year old scoring forward will quietly do a slow burn in Bakersfield and when his contract is up, he will bolt for another team and I won’t blame him one bit.
This team either a) brings kids up way too early and then do not develop them or b) Let them rot in the minors and give up on them or trade them for peanuts.
Once again, I’m glad I paid for coaching courses and my league fees for playing over Sportsnet+
So…goaltending, am I right?
No.
Play 60 instead of 10.
Score 5 like you should.
Win.
97, 29 and the powerplay were absent tonight. That’s what cost them.
The goaltending is not good by any measure. Defense measures ok, but the magnitude of the mistakes is massive. D are still the primary problem. Goalies are not covering for their massive mistakes.
Well, goaltending may not have been the primary culprit, but ONCE AGAIN, the Oilers had the inferior goalie of the night. Got goalied by Wedgewood, while Skinner sported yet another sub .900 performance. Oilers had almost 50 shots, Stars scored 4 on 27. Enough said.
Stu was lamer than lame on that Duchene goal. And the looks skyward is getting boring.
A solid first period from the goaltending tandem would help quite a bit.
Every defensive breakdown ends up in the Oilers’ net. Frankly, I’m ready to throw Campbell back in there for another go again since we can’t change out 4 defensemen.
Yep. Pretty amazing how few will admit most of our issues stem from not getting enough saves. Of course, we get goalied by a backup. Our goalies rarely win a game for us. Must be nice.
Gagner shows up and he is not infected by fancy-pants hockey. As wonderful as our top players are, those pretty goals cannot be the only way to score. We need the messy goals, the ugly goals.
The shots were absolutely there tonight.
Need to pick up the garbage goals.
Oilers got the skill players, they have the speed players, they are short on the hard nose grinders.
Too many fancy Dan’s!
Winners win and losers lose. Sam Gagner showing all the others how to score in the NHL; no overpassing, overthinking and looking for the perfect play. Just take it right to the net.
I think it’s time for a moment of silence for the 2023-24 San Jose Sharks.
And for the 2023-2024 Oilers.
They are working on their 16th straight loss going back to last season.
They could be the worst team of all time. But amazingly have better goaltending than Edmonton. I wonder if a trade for Blackwood is possible.
PP needs a redraw. It’s well scouted.
No way it should go 0 for 4 against a tired team like that
93, 29, 18 not getting enough done with all their ice time
Stars were 1 for 2 on the PP?
special teams are pretty pedestrian
I have said for ages they need counter strategies. It is so obvious especially when they really need a goal. Set up Leon, or Bouch now. Aren’t there 3 other players?
This team is broken. Watching the Canucks play like we should makes me sad. They have heart, hustle and a will to win. My how far we have fallen. Time to change the coach and get some fire back in their bellies.
Not broken, just playing like assholes.
I’m sure it’s still a playoff team but it’s getting late early
Solutions as I see it to do now
Ice Kenny. No need to embarrass him but someone else managing. Jackson must know how to make deals. They won’t happen short term but there is a lot that could be done to make this season what is wanted
If Battman will reinstate Quenneville you do it now. I believe he can handle this group and use the pieces in place far better
The energy level is far too low. The emotional level is too low. PK is not a personnel issue, it’s a coaching issue, repeatedly for us
Quenneville quite literally did nothing about a young man being sexually abused by a member of his staff, he knew about it, swept it under the rug, and fkd up a 19-year old’s life and career. Good coach or not, hiring a person possessing a moral compass of such a nature is inexcusable.
Completely agree.
We’ve been bitten by the snake, again…it’s ridiculous the chances we’ve blown but they’re gonna start going in. We just have to keep at it , work our asses off and not overthink things, like what Connor and Leon seem to be doing.
Gagner may not have the boots anymore but he knows how much effort it takes to win. I, for one, hope he sticks around. The whole team can learn for watching him do everything he can out there.
Agreed I hope he can keep it up. First games he will
The Good. Sam Gagner with a great effort. Evander Kane had a good game. I thought Vinny was involved, jumped up into the play once. Holloway had some jump.
The Bad. McDavid and Draisatl need to be split up again. Both are skating around the perimeter not creating much. Skinner didn’t come up with a big save and like every game the Oilers were outplayed in goal. Ekholm is not playing well. Broberg is bringing nothing to the team, maybe send him down and call up another player. Nuge had a few points but I didn’t like his game.
For me the problem is that some players get points but do nothing else for most of the rest of their time
Pushing every shift is important for the overall play
Points matter but a shit ton of points and personal bests and records and mosts lead to nothing last season
This game was a shit show again. The coach didn’t use his hottest player end of game
Makes a guy wonder if 89 was brought in to address some dressing room or leadership issues.
Defending takes team buy in. It’s not there consistently enough. Exhibit A – Broberg flubs the dump and the forwards couldn’t get off soon enough to avoid the minus. Maybe consider bailing your rookie D out then give him crap later?
89 addressed some on ice issues anyway.
If you think of how bad the team was when Sam was key and that they need him now to get them up now, it makes me sad
Gagner has some heart. Love it.
50% on the PK
0% on the PP
0 points from the bottom 6 except for old man Sam
2 GA on terrible mistakes/breakdowns.
this team is not good right now
Ceci on the first and third goals.
Broberg on the 2nd goal
Bouchard on the 4th goal.
All four goals against were pretty bad mistakes or bad coverage.
Desharnais is making the safe plays. But he is showing up as a steady Eddie and solidifying his importance to the team.
Happy for Samwise.
But no moral victories. Need wins.
Another loss to add to the pile, but somehow that near comeback was more encouraging than the blowout against Nashville or the outdoor win over Calgary. Those 15 minutes felt like a hungry team for the first time this entire year. I’ll take that scrappy 15 minutes over squeaking out an undeserved 2 points.
Are we supposed to get excited about an Oiler team playing well in the last 10 minutes of a game where the opposition was playing the 3rd game in 4 nights, and back-to-back?
And backup goaltender.
Gagner scored two goals off of pure effort and determination. He didn’t try for a highlight. He just got the puck to the net and went to the scoring area, hard.
I hope our guys take note of this. Hockey is hard. Scoring is hard. Go hard.
Gonna be a solid run now.
Defensemen really need to stop spotting goals. The Ceci, Broberg and Bouchard against the Rags were spotting goals. No more of that.
More shots for McLeon please. No more passing, more shots. More shots at 5v5, more shots on PP.
Bouchard is going to score 100.
Drai one timer leaks out of the zone as usual. Really?
Are we still doing morale victories? That was a beauty
Too little too late.
Show up for 60.
I would make almost every forward watch tape of Bedard practicing shots and make them stay late at practice. None are bottom net
Get some confidence guys and shoot like you mean to score
It is not reasonable to expect bottom 6 forwards to shoot like Bedard. Instead the coaches have to figure out how to get the best out of each player, whether it’s shooting more, shooting high or crashing the net.
How about top 6?
No Gagner 6-on-5 is a mistake.
So Woody. Bullshit
Kane is sloppy but he knows how goals are scored
There’s 3 forwards that came to play tonight and one of them can’t finish.
Sad
McDavid and Draisaitl can’t get anything done tonight.
What in the actual F as that Dria? Blind spinarama pass to no one. Sit that guy. Fin 89 twice the player right now
Sam Gagner showing the entire bottom 6 who their daddy is.
And most of the top 6.
Why in hell is Sam the hardest working player? Atta be Sammy
My washing machine works hard, but it’s not going to lead this team out of the basement.
You just love to see it
BOOM!!! Gags with another ugly goal!!! You can’t make this stuff up!!
What great moves by Kaner!!!
Kane and Gagner.
There’s some fire there.
LOLOLOL
Gagner could get 8 tonight at this rate
Gags on the second line! You gotta admit, he makes things happen out there.
Sam said his hips feel best in years, and his skating is looking ok
It was never great, but good for him. The heart is there, and that matters to a degree
Maybe inject some Oiler passion into these guys
So in less than 3 periods Gagne has one more goal than the entire bottom 6 this year. What more needs to be said
Haha! Well, seems like we are in ‘moral victories’ territory this game, so I’ll take a Gags goal! Woo!
Who called it? Reja?