On Saturday night, the Edmonton Oilers got slapped around by the Calgary Flames harder than... well if you know, you know. Since Woodcroft was hired, I have discussed on this blog how much better the Oilers have been at 5 on 5. Those numbers were almost single handily ruined as the team allowed 9 EV goals against on Saturday.
Mikko Koskinen was bad, Mike Smith who came in relief was bad, Darnell Nurse was bad, Evan Bouchard was bad, and really the defense as a whole was just bad.
No one gets a pass for that kind of game but if I had to single out Nurse or Bouchard more for their play, it would absolutely be Nurse. Darnell Nurse is about to start making 9.5 million dollars a year. If he is going to get paid like a top 10 defender in the league than he needs to start playing like it... or even a top 30 defender.
In the last 7 periods the Oilers have played, Darnell Nurse has been on the ice for 8 goals against at 5 on 5. That is not the kind of stat you want to see associated with your #1 defenseman. Evan Bouchard is 22 years old and has played a grand total of 86 games. Some of the decisions he is making on the ice are inexcusable but he is young and you hope that the coaching staff will help him and as he plays more games he will cleanup those egregious mistakes.
Darnell Nurse is 27 and has played 465 games. He can no longer hide behind that excuse. He knows exactly what is expected of him every night. In addition to a strong (unsustainable) high producing season last year, Nurse had stopped making as many of the very noticeable mistakes which led to high danger chances against. Over the last couple of months we are seeing all of those issues on display once more.
Evan Bouchard should sit a game or two to give him a break and have him watch the game from above for a reset but Darnell Nurse should be scratched for a game as well. The whole defense was a mess against the Flames but Nurse is the leader back there and he needs to be held accountable too.
Maybe it was the fact that the entire defense was flopping around in front of the netminders but I thought that might finally force Holland to call up Stuart Skinner. Sadly that does not seem to be the case. If Skinner isn't going to get a chance after a debacle like that, it's likely that he won't over the rest of this season either.
Skinner might not be what Binnington was for the Blues over their Cup run, or what Jarry was when he first started for the Pens, or what Husso has been for the Blues right now. The point is they won't know until he is actually given a chance. Neither of the Oilers goalies are providing irrefutable proof they are "the guy" so why not play the guy who had a shutout in his last NHL game and still has a higher SV% on the season than either of the vets.
Tonight the Oilers need to strike a balance between remembering the mistakes they made against the Flames and moving on. Playing against the lacklustre Coyotes should be a confidence booster, if the team refocuses. Here is the projected lineup:
Kane-McDavid-Puljujarvi Hyman-Draisaitl-Yamamoto Brassard-RNH-Archibald Foegele-McLeod-Ryan Shore-Kassian
Nurse-Ceci Keith-Bouchard Kulak-Barrie
Koskinen
Derek Ryan slots back into the lineup, Puljujarvi is reunited with McDavid on the top line and Zack Kassian, after doing absolutely nothing against the Flames will sit. The defensive pairings all remain the same. I do wonder if we start to see JW go back to an 11/7 lineup if he feels some of those blueliners need to have their minutes slashed.
Enjoy the game!