I don’t have any idea how difficult it must be to stay healthy in the NHL in spring when the referees put the whistles away. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl put up with enough crap from Games 1-60 each season, but you can already see the rules are relaxing. It is open season on impact players and the league, having long ago sold its soul to Eddie Shore, isn’t any help at all. Please read this.
I don’t believe having McDavid using his fists and falling awkwardly on the ice is the truth and the way. I have no grand idea about how 97 or 29 should harness the rage, only that a severe injury to either man would end all hope for postseason success. In a career that has had many challenges, McDavid in spring has always been healthy enough to deliver. Last night was a single event. I don’t believe it’s advisable to reprise that moment.
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) 2-1-0
- 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: 3-2-0
- Season Record: 32-26-8, 72 points in 66 games
This much sadness is too much sorrow. The Oilers spent the cap on a goalie upgrade and Tristan Jarry may well be the new Cam Talbot but right now he looks like the new Jack Campbell. This absolutely sucks for all involved. Edmonton needs a saviour to rise from these streets. It might be Connor Ingram, or maybe Samuel Jonsson. However, Jarry can’t be tossed overboard this soon, and I do hope he finds his game in a quick hurry.
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 9:18, 4-4 shots, 0-3 goals, 48X, 2-2 HDSC
This line had a weird night, and have to be better. Zach Hyman had seven HD’s, but only two (I know, but he usually has more) at five-on-five. This line saw a steady diet of Heiskanen and Lindell (0-3) and were most often matched up against the Robertson-Johnston-Bourque trio. There will be a tendency to blame Glenn Gulutzan and frankly I’m in favour of it, but in truth this line played in a haze, were dashed by defensive miscues (their own plus the blue) and goaltending, and then frustration erupted. That means valuable energy spent in worthless places.
- Henrique-Samanski-Frederic 7:31, 3-2 shots, 85X, 2-0 HDSC
This line did good things last night, I’m liking Samanski’s chances of getting playoff games more each outing. Trent Frederic and Adam Henrique had HDSC’s and for me this is a line the coach may want to run again. There was a time when Henrique cashed chances regularly, perhaps he can go on a run this spring.
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen 5:52, 5-2 shots, 1-0 goals, 65X, 0-1 HDSC
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Roslovic 4:36, 1-1 shots, 55X
This line was solid and I’m convinced Kapanen is now healthy enough to play on the second line. He still gets knocked off the puck more than he has in the past, but the wheels look to have returned. Podkolzin has the look of a player who is going to be here for years, kind of settling in as a modern Mike Grier. You plug him in and he finds a way. Draisaitl remains the best ‘smoke ’em if you got ’em’ player in the NHL. Jack Roslovic is an effective utility player who can deliver offense. Sam Pollock had miles of them, from Chuck Lefley to Phil Roberto.
- Savoie-Dickinson-Roslovic 4:22, 5-2 shots, 80X, 2-0 HDSC
By eye, number and math, this line delivered and should have played more in this game. Dickinson scored a goal, Roslovic had an assist and a HDSC, Savoie with the HDSC. You can call it a fourth line but the Oilers haven’t had one this good in a very long time. Wonderful skill.
- Ekholm-Bouchard 15:00, 9-7 shots, 1-1 goals, 48X, 1-4 HDSC
- Nurse-Murphy 13:28, 5-2 shots, 32X, 1-2 HDSC
- Walman-Stastney 11:45, 4-7 shots, 0-1 goals, 61X, 2-1 HDSC
Evan Bouchard had some chaos in the first, and the duo surrendered too many great chances. The top pair has been splendid when healthy, but had some wobble last night. Great goal by Bouchard. The Walman-Stastney pairing were caught on video disguised as houses on the side of the road on the Duchene goal. I think we’ll see Nurse-Murphy quite a bit now, that’s a veteran tandem that should deliver once chem is developed.
Tristan Jarry didn’t have a good game and at this point I’m not certain the Oilers can trust him to win games. I don’t know what the answer is, but Connor Ingram has to get the net tonight. Calvin Pickard to the rescue? You can make the case this morning.
The Oilers need to go hunting in college and Euro free agency again this spring. The college signing window is now open, and Stan Bowman needs to deliver as he did last year. In Quinn Hutson and Damien Carfagna, Bowman may have procured two useful NHL pieces. The July 1 free-agent pool is poor, so acquiring useful players in other ways will be key for Edmonton. The AHL trade deadline is today at 1pm Edmonton time, so we might see a tweak to the Bakersfield roster.
On the Lowdown today, Steve Lansky will be our feature guest and we’ll talk Oilers last night and tonight, along with March Madness and World Baseball Classic. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Evan Bouchard’s impact is undeniable. Can he change the perception of his play?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7110942/2026/03/13/oilers-evan-bouchard-stats-norris-trophy-odds/
This team isn’t going anywhere. Missing the playoffs might be a good thing. Long rest for hopefully a successful retool. A broken clock is right twice a day. Hopefully Bowman is due.
Or trade McDavid and setup a quick rebuild. Might be able to dump Nurse and Jarry clean and get something in return for the new GM.
Every coach has their skills and Coffey is not an analytics guy. Great rah-rah guy. I’m thankful he took a job he clearly doesn’t want but it should be noted he’s a huge Nurse-guy.
Led the team at 5v5 ice time. Led the team in penalty kill TOI.
Another -2 off 7/10 scoring chances for and against.
Now 25 goals against in all games states in the 13 games since Coffey has elevated him to the #1 defense position. And the response is to feed him more and more minutes even OT.
I hope he’s right that this project is worth the investment!
I dont get it. I guess someone has to eat the minutes, but they’ve been trying to trade him yet his minutes remain. Could Stastney or Emberson handle more of those minutes? Doubtful. Murphy looks like a better bet
Summarizing! (Part Alpha)
Nicholl scored on the PP for his 12th goal of the year. He was also a witch on the dot, going 15 for 24 (62.5%). He was named 3rd star.
Lewandowski drew an assist.
Lafreniere’s match is in progress.
Summarizing! (Part the Last)
Lafreniere was held soupless in a 4-1 loss.
I liked the game by the Oilers tonight, good rebound from last night. They are going to need to grind it out one game at a time down the stretch
The Oilers topped LT’s prediction this road trip by one point. That’s good for me.
There were numerous posts about this trip before it began, about being “murderer’s row” and that they could go 1-3. Some clowns even said they’d loose all four.
Go step outside and look at this team from the big picture. This time last year, countless of you were all doom and gloom, similar to now.
They could reach the final again, they could miss the playoffs. You bunch of negative nancies are missing the point. Bunch of keyboard GMs, OP biggest of all. Chaulk sent up Jones for the game, and yet you think you know better?
Enjoy the f.ing game
LOL – the coach gets critisixaed dozens of times a day. Everyone thinks they know better?
The GM gets criticized dozens of times a day. Everyone thinks they know better?
Shit, Connor McDavid gets criticized multiple times a game. Everyone thinks they know what Connor should do better?
Chaulk isn’t making any decisions for the Oilers.
Really not sure why one would get so defensive over a community member not agreeing with the injury replacement player called up.
Jones played well.
Put the bottle down 😉
This team just REFUSES to turn the corner on this season.
Two terrific, close games against a division rival and the soon-to-be President’s Trophy winner, followed by a blow out, and blown 2-0 game with less than 10 to go against a non playoff team.
An extra point would have been so crucial, and would have a FINALLY put some distance between them and the cutoff line.
The only positive is one team has to come out of the Pacific.
Good Lord. Ugly ugly ugly.
Utah is the likely crossover team in the playoffs as the first wildcard. May finish with more points than the 1st place team in the Pacific.
Points in the last 10 games/team is revealing.
DAL -19 (without Rantanen and Hintz)
COL -16
MIN -14
ANA -14
UTA – 12
SJS – 10
EDM – 9
LAK – 9
NSH – 9
VGK – 8
SEA – 6
Games in hand on the Oilers:
SJS – 4
SEA – 3
ANA – 2
LAK – 2
NSH -2
VGK – 1
UTA – 1
There is a significant chance the Sharks could disrupt the playoff picture as 12 of their remaining games are against non-playoff teams.
3 of those “non-playoff teams” are from the east (Phi, CBJ, Ott). Better records than the sharks overall and over the last 10. 2 against the blues who are 7-2-1 in last 10. Spin spin sugar.
and being a new market are likely owed favorable officiating…
They ended up with 5 out of a possible 8 points. Not bad.
While not bad, the lost point last night could be critical, like it has been all year. This team is still sputtering.
This offseason priority must be unloading Nurse and Jarry. Mortgage the future and use that cap space to round out the team for two more years.
And Walman. He’s showing why Detroit had to attach assets to get rid of him. That’s a rancid 7×7 contract coming up. Yeesh.
I think he will bounce back. We shall see.
For sure – Walman is clearly playing through something that is severely hampering his mobility.
They tend to give goalies 9 lives here so I think they are stuck with Jarry.
Nurse is a this summer move when opposing GMs are 6 beer deep at the cottage
The league won’t allow you to mortgage the future far enough down the road to move those contracts.
Not good, folks. A serious playoff teams closes out 2-0 games with 7 mins remaining.
100%
Who says this is a playoff team
That’s exactly his point.
Wut
-2? Really? correct me if i’m wrong Rafa, but i think your point was that this is not a serious playoff team.
my point was not that. My point was that i would like to know who actually thinks this is a serious playoff team.
i assumed that my point was not exactly Rafa’s point and that we were in fact making different “points”.
Thus, wut.
Bahahahaha!
It’s a shame to have to settle for a single point. Should have had two.What a crappy third period.
2nd of B2B and 3rd in 4….
True but same for STL.
Sarcasm, as that is Bill’s typical response to those making comments about losing games they should win.
I mean, on the bright side, I felt like they were going to let in the third one in regulation, so I’ll take the 1/2 points, I suppose. Lol. This team. Always finding a way to seize defeat from the jaws of victory!
I’m going to just take a long view here and in spite of the blown lead by the team, Ingram gave them a chance to win. Put him back in next game.
You have to keep playing Ingram. Jarry pretty much guaranteed loss these days. It looks like he will join the long list of dismal Oilers goalies.
This type of hockey isn’t winning a damn thing.
Hyman shouldn’t be out for 3v3, he doesn’t recognize open ice. And why did McDavid go back out with 15 seconds left?
Re: Hyman, I guess we see things differently, I think he’s great and would actually love to see him with McDavid staggered with Draisaitl and Nuge to give different looks
Great player but not a great playmaker. He’s built to battle, hold the puck and drive the net. He doesn’t see open men and holds the puck too long in my opinion. Turnovers in 3v3 are fatal. Regardless there’s lots of blame to go around on the OT winner.
Nurse is basically just as unplayable as Jarry.
#hottake
#butseriously
Whoever decided to put Nurse on the ice in OT should be booking their own flight home.
Nurse has had a lot of positive success in OT over the years.
I don’t disagree, but he’s on an absolutely dismal run of defensive play and putting him out there as the sole defender was asking for trouble. I would say the same about Walman right now as well, perhaps even more so.
So did Paul Coffey. Let’s play him.
As soon as I seen Nurse out there i knew we were going to lose. Just not enough between the ears for this type of game.
McDavid was too tired to be out at the end, trying for OT point 50
No disrespect, but honestly that legitimately popped into my head when I seen it. I was 100% hoping we would pull off the win. I heard Stauffer talking about the 3rd period and playing defensive. The 1st two periods they were dominating; why not just play the 3rd the same as the 1st 2??
We lost that game?
Best. 🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️
2-1-1 on that trip. All day long
2-1-1 after being 2-1-0 and being up 2-0 in the third. Little bit of goal post shifting just to make yourself feel better there.
The record is a fact, no goal posts being moved.
Bringing up the past is moving goal posts, as if it changes anything.
All points are critical at this time of the year. Blowing a 2 goal lead with 8 mins left to an AHL team (with another GA within 3 minute of what should have been an Oilers dagger) really sucks. Chances of 1st in a terrible division are nearly 0
Exactly. With the Sharks only 5 points back with 4 games in hand, we’re effectively barely hanging on to wildcard 2 since both the Kraken and Kings can tie Edmonton if they win their own games in hand.
AHL Team? They just beat the Wild, Kraken, Sharks, Ducks, Canes.
Amen
Jack: Shhhhh
Totally jinxed it
This is not a good hockey team.
Talking about the Blues? Or Oilers?
The Blues have beat the Wild, Kraken, Canes and Sharks in the last two weeks.
Both
Are we about to witness history
Not the one I wanted to see. Terrible game
Boy oh boy, Nurse almost deflected another one in.
With a second remaining on the clock.
Is it just me, or are Oiler goalies allergic to +900 save%?
#antihistamines
This team…
Bloody keystone cops hockey. Get the damn puck out.
*sigh*
FFS
Missing Emberson. Has there been any info on injury or how long he might be out???
Nothing – maybe when they get home and the larger media group is there.
Nice goal. You’ll notice that there were exactly zero Oilers defensemen above the goal line on that one. For whatever reason.
Poor defending there
Par for the course. Hard to believe there just has been no sustained improvement on the D side of the puck. Must not be prioritized.
But hey we have a guy that will win the scoring title and maybe get mvp
What a great 4th line shift.
First GA Theo Lindstein has been on for in his 4th NHL game. It will be a memorable one, McDavid driving the centre on him one-on-one.
McDavid loves to make Holloway remember what he’s missing
Ingram with an assist
Holloway wasn’t on the ice. It was the rookie Lindstein defending.
Connor says “ Hold my beer “
Nice pass by Savoie to sping McDavid.
McDavid with a little “eff this noise” with that rush
2-0
McLaser
And Ingram the second assist for his second assist.
Holy shit!
Ok play the bottom 6
Lord Tundering Jesus, what is going on with this PP?
They’ve given up some of the best chances in every game of this roadie while on the PP.
I don’t care about occasional risks that result in a good chance against.
The part that kills me is that it’s almost always the same thing. Drop passes and/or tunnel vision where the players all pursue the puck coming back into their end and there seems to be a frigging all-star left wide open every time.
Please just learn from your mistakes, guys.
Ingram is making sure that Jarry doesn’t see the net again (last b2b excluded). If Ingram can maintain this level in the playoffs and avoid Skinner’s lack of mental toughness (having to reset during playoff pressure), that would be the most positive development of this uneven season.
Realistically how is Ingram or Jarry for that matter going to handle playing every 2nd night behind this D corps if they actually make the playoffs?
Get the kill and the momentum back.
Did the Oilers forget there was third period? Were they putting their bags on the bus & got called back to the rink?
Not the same team that played the first two periods out there right now.
They like to “pace” themselves
Wow trying hard to give this one away. Two short handed breakaways and now take a penalty!
PP has been careless lately
For years and years the Oilers PP is less efficient without Nuge – every time he’s out.
when they drew up this PP I don’t think “give up 2 breakaways” was part of the plan
Jeezuz
These drop passes… sheesh.
Geezus Connor….
We need one bad here as the next call is going against us.
…and there it is….
What in the world is was said between periods that they’ve come out so bad?