This is Luna. She has pretty much had it with the cold weather and is ready for spring. She likes to find the warmth of the sun when it streams into the house and will lay in the sun for a long time. Luna is a sweetheart, all she really wants is treats, wet cat food and to hang with Clifford (the big red dog). She relies on me for treats and pets, and rarely lets me hold her for long. Luna is popular with all of the people and pets in my universe. She lacks the flair of Nimbus (the black cat), whose shenanigans occur 24-7 and no one is safe. She lacks the attitude of Ziggy, who remains the queen of the house if only in her own mind. She lacks the rambunctious energy of Clifford, whose tail wagging sounds like a hammer on a drum when he’s in the hallway. Luna just is. And we love her for it.
I posted the photo because it represents OIlers fans today. Luna is done with winter and not getting treats on time and goodness knows what else. Oilers fans are done with losing and July 1 signings that don’t work out and goalies who allow pucks in from the moon. Luna is Oilers Nation today.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MARCH
- At home to: OTT, CAR (Expected 1-1-0) 1-1-0
- On the road to: VEG, COL, DAL, STL (Expected 2-2-0)
- At home to: NAS, SJS, FLA, TBAY (Expected 2-1-1)
- On the road to: UTA, VEG (Expected 1-1-0)
- At home to: ANA, SEA (Expected 1-1-0)
- Expected Record: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Actual Record: 1-1-0
- Season Record: 30-25-8, 68 points in 63 games
I’m about two weeks away from writing that Connor McDavid may be the new Norm Ullman but it’s too cruel to contemplate right now. The Oilers have been in a tough spot before, more tough spots than George Clooney in Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? and that’s for sure. I half expect Edmonton to roar in March and push for the division crown, but that would require turning on a dime.
Why can’t this team find a goalie? Stuart Skinner posted an .891 save percentage before he left for Pittsburgh, and that is the top total for the team so far this season. I prefer five-on-five save percentage, and we get Skinner and Connor Ingram tied at .892. If I’m Stan Bowman I give Tristan Jarry this spring to figure it out but would be looking for more help in the summer. I also think the coach might want to give Ingram the net.
It isn’t all on the goalies. The defense looks terrible, although not all of them. Here are the five-on-five goal shares for the team since January 1.
- Mattias Ekholm 65 pct
- Evan Bouchard 57 pct
- Ty Emberson 50 pct
- Darnell Nurse 41 pct
- Spencer Stastney 41 pct
- Jake Walman 38
- Connor Murphy 33
The top pair has been quality, and Ty Emberson is playing the league at par and that’s a good thing. Darnell Nurse and Jake Walman need to be better and Connor Murphy should be able to help. Spencer Stastney is No. 7 blue currently, some time watching the NHL action may benefit him. Here are the center splits since January 1:
- McDavid & Draisaitl 53 pct, 3.44 GF-60 vs 3.04 GA-60
- McDavid 51 pct, 3.27 GF-60 vs 3.11 GA-60
- Draisaitl 56 pct, 3.59 GF-60 vs 2.78 GA-60
- The rest: 36 pct, 1.57 GF-60 vs 2.77 GA-60
The song remains the same, the only change is the third and fourth line are more out of time than ever. I think this team is a significant distance from last year’s club. I’m fine with the additions at the deadline and remain confident in McDavid, Draisaitl and Bouchard. The rest? Oilers Nation is raising a Spockian eyebrow toward the whole damn mess. With cause. Credit: Dave Jamieson is the first person I ever heard say “Spockian eyebrow” and I can’t think of a better phrase to describe the moment, although Luna’s stare is also a good representation of the moment.
CONDORS
Was just curious how Colorado managed to make the cap work
This year
Next year
102.75 mil of the 104 mil salary cap accounted for already, with 2 D and some depth forwards to sign. Definitely doable if a player is injured to start the season, but without a trade of a F for D, it will be a very forward heavy group while relying on great progress from Malinski with Manson keeping it together at age 35 and some bargain bin 3rd pair Ds. Definitely a bold strategy and an incredibly strong F group locked up, but its not foolproof and the D even now seems to be a patchwork.
From Tankathon
The “hardest” teams Edmonton has left (7/18)
Of these 7, 4 I think (TBL, UTAH, and ANA) they can win as long as they play like tonight
Going 3-4 here would be good (especially focusing on wins vs. UTAH and ANA)
The “easiest” teams left (6/18)
LA, NSH, FLA will give us the most trouble, but obviously all are winnable
Going 4-2 here would be good, and what a playoff team should be capable of
That would put them 7-6 through the good and the bad
The other games? All the big rivals VGK (2), SJS (2), SEA (1)
Getting 7 or more out of 10 pts here would be playoff bound e.g. splitting VGK, sweeping the Sharks and Kraken
5 of 10, and playoffs are a coin flip
<5, and its the good, the bad, and the ugly for the team..
On paper, the remaining games don’t look too daunting (especially after these next 2) for the 23-24/24-25 Oilers. I have no clue how this year’s version is going to handle them.
I believe this currently constructed team, warts and all, could go 10-6-2 and finish with 92 pts
The Leafs and Preds could really help us against ANA/SJS. WAS and WPG could help us out against VGK. Not expecting much help from CHI/VCR/CGY
Sad to see us on the list of “easiest” opponents remaining for TBL and DAL…
The Oilers finally decided to try to win 2-1 and got the 4-2 final just as predicted!
If the Oilers take the blueprint from this game, they can find sustained success. Responsible hockey , good defence and everyone making lots of good decisions all over the ice is totally within this team’s capabilities.
Hilariously true! Great compromise!
Roslovic, Podkolzin, and Ingram do have to be counted among the smarter moves by the organization in the past couple of years. Low risk, patient moves backed by some degree of evidence.
I am still not sure if Savoie will ever surpass McLeod, but his last 7 games have been excellent, and what we were hoping for.
That stick lift on Eichel in the 3rd, Chef’s kiss
Hockey IQ & effort 10/10
Everyone needed that win. This is a tough 2-week stretch. 8 games in 14 nights. I’d reward Ingram’s play tonight with the Avs and Stars on Tues & Thurs to see if he can get on a roll. Then, give Jarry the Blues on Friday and see how he does so you can come up with a plan for the next 4 games the following week.
Really? The realist in me would accept that even a single point against the 2 best teams in the league who are on absolute heaters would be a stretch, play Ingram-Jarry-Ingram and hope they can take some positives from the COL-DAL gauntlet
Yeah it’s tough getting those teams the next 2 games. They likely will alternate like you say, but if Ingram gets the win vs the Avs I would put him right back in for the Stars. I think Jarry’s confidence is pretty low right now and he has more of a chance to be successful vs the Blues.
Would rather put our best goalie against the team we need to beat, and have low expectations for Jarry against DAL and hope that he proves you wrong.
That seems to be the smart play. They need to win at least two of these 4 road games and it makes more sense to put Jarry in one of the likely losses rather than risk losing to St Louis because the goaltending doesn’t keep up with the scoring.
Jarry is a good enough goalie that when he is on he can steal a game. Maybe he gets it together against Dallas or Colorado? It never hurts to hope for the best..
Just watching the highlights of the TBL-BUF. I wasn’t a fan of the Buffalo announcers trashing our team this year, but I do have to say, watching Lindy Ruff and Buffalo killing it is certainly nostalgic
What on gods green earth do the Buffalo Sabres have to trash anybody.
4 days ago players very publicly declined to join their sad sack franchise.
Cart before the horse holy.
BUF might still be pissy at the Oilers for winning the McLottery.
A much better effort tonight, much more defensive awareness.
I wonder if Coffee’s voice has been heard and his coaching plan enacted. I would guess, yes it has.
Except we’ve seen the Oilers put these games together before, only to almost immediately fall back into old habits.
Maybe Coffey’s superpower is to keep the team focuses on defense rather than play like a team full of players with ADHD who’ve run out of Adderal.
Ingram had to have earned the next game with that win.
yes, for sure
and the b2b is a coin flip
That was a great victory. They beat Vegas in the third period and Vegas are no slouches in the third.
Team defense apparently works!
That was mainly a bottom six win tonight. Good to see.
HUGE, Ingram with a very good game.
Enjoy the win folks. Enjoy the win.
Drai w the passes. Have to agree. Arrogant.
Great, I hope he never changes.
LOL, agree – but there are times where you have to see that the pass is not going through, though. From my old man floor hockey games, you hate it when someone throws it away and you know you have to run all the way back on D…
Draisaitl’s backhand pass to Frederic when he had a clear shot and no reason to give the puck away is the kind of wrinkle he needs to get out of his game. Frederic was there for the rebound
What is with this team and empty net goals? It’s like they don’t think they deserve to score them.
That goal was almost taken away because Kap refused to punch it in.
Maddening.
Gotta earn it!
What a play by McD to will that puck north
Cheeks, known Knight slayer.
#NeverInDoubt
Kapanen likes planting daggers vs. Vegas.
The number of mental errors per game from this team this year is astounding
Edmonton earned the victory.
OK
Kapanen empty netter puts this away*
*one would hope
Nice response there.
You knew that was going to be an Oiler EN goal before McDavid even got the puck in the defensive corner.
Phew
This is why you can’t play under 20 shot hockey.
And coach bonehead puts Murphy out there on the powerplay?!? FIRE HIM FFS.
We were saying earlier?! Another case in point. No need to stay on for 2 minutes when you’re up 3-1. That is selfish leadership.
That wasn’t the problem. 4-1 would have been great. It was the lack of awareness with Bouch and 3 Oilers back
Bouchard indifference strikes again.
I blame Jack for all that talk about “at the very least, if they kill it off, there’s 2.5 mins left”…
Thankfully did not have to listen to Jack tonight since it was on ESPN in the states.
Connor Murphy chasing into the corner instead of covering Eichel.
There were 3 Oilers open and Bouch wasn’t looking. I am not sure that Murphy left Eichel open, he came to help out and then get open for a pass for Bouch
Oh, Bouch…
This team…..just no desire, regardless of the score, to just eat one and live another day.
sil·ly
/ˈsilē/
adjective
having or showing a lack of common sense or judgment; absurd and foolish.
Leon having a period
Leon gets whacked full force in the face with Theodore’s stick.
Louie: “Just trying to lift the stick of Draisaitl”. “Clips him.”
Why doesn’t the owner care about this kind of thing?!? Would be better than player-tinkering.
He was very much fair in the assessment tonight. He lamented Vegas’ non-call for the interference on Podkolzin in the 2nd, and the lack of call for retaliation against Podz in the 3rd
Why doesn’t the owner care about what?
Louie works for Sportsnet.
that’s a least a 2 min penalty
yup, 2 for high sticking
nothing silly on this PP boys, we can steer this home with a 2 goal lead
Well, this has been a very mature road game for the Oil so far….in the sense that everyone watching has aged a little bit while they’re protecting the lead.
Savoie looking like a young Mike Peca with that 3 day growth of facial hair
This is NOT a heater for Matt Savoie. This is how he plays nightly (generally) once he gets comfortable at the next level!
Buckle up, this is going to be fun ride watching him continue to develop.
Amazing! More, please!
Walman, a D-man, in deep and makes a blind cross ice back towards his own blue line with 7 minutes to go in the third with a lead…… sigh.
That broken stick just wasn’t going to let McLeon not score!
This is how you use McDrai. 4v4, PP, and post-PK
We’ve been slagging the big two the last 10 minutes and they combine for the insurance goal LoL
Finish ‘er up boys!
Will Andersson get an assist on that? 😀
Poor bastard thought he could get away from Mcdavid and Draisaitl with a trade out of Calgary
that…was an insane sequence.
Nurse taking an offsetting penalty is kind of the best possible outcome for his shifts lately…
That was some seriously lucky luck on that shift!
the broken stick gets the 2nd assist on that one..!!!!!
The Blues apparently do not want Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg. Won in Seattle. Won in OT in San Jose. Shut out the Ducks. Helping the Oilers.
Without Parayko again tonight, Broberg 27 minutes, an assist and plus 1.
I guess he likes the organization, after all… 🙂
There’s a lot of parity in this league, and coaching and structure is a thing
I feel better seeing a 16 jersey tbh.
Stoll or the guy who used to wear an ugly helmet and get beat up for a living?
Back checking forwards make it a lot easier for the defense to stand up and deny entry to the zone. Emberson with a nice play because Podkolzin is in the right spot and Savoie with a nice strip as well. Little plays that make a difference.
Very noticeable tonight. Nuge and McD have both backtracked all the way to the crease where usually they peal off or softly trail at the top of circles.
Agreed. Little plays that make a BIG difference. When they make these little plays the goalie looks good, the D relax, they win games.
The number of unnecessary turnovers by Draisatl and McDavid in this third period is a great example of a part of the problem with this team. When they are pushing for offense when down a goal it is defensible, but they need to lead by example when up a goal.
Yeah, McD’s lazy fade away pass inside his own blue line was egregious.
I would rephrase it. They should still be pushing for offense (sitting on a lead has never been this team’s strength), but giving the puck away on high risk, high reward passes (especially of the no look variety) is not the right way to play up 2-1 in the 3rd, and is not the example you want to set
I’m noticing a positive trend of our D standing up at our blue line; not automatically backing up and ceding the zone.
Forwards backtracking through the middle allow the d to step up. Very noticeable tonite.
Matt Savoie – popping in real time (as he has done at every level after a bit of a acclimatization period).
Savoie has been an absolute demon tonight on both the forecheck and backcheck, really nice to see.
Excellent sustained shifts