3 straight games of getting embarrassed has taken its toll on everybody. The team is determined to make these last few games as painful as humanly possible for all involved.
If there’s one aspect of this season that is most embarrassing to the franchise then it must surely be their record within their own Division. The Oilers have the worst record of any team playing against their own divisional opponents. No team in the Metro, Atlantic, or Central is a worse matchup against their own peers than Edmonton is to the Pacific.
The Oilers are 3-20-3 against the Pacific Division. 3 wins all year. A couple of shootout wins over LA and San Jose and then the one regulation win against San Jose. 26 games, 3 wins, only 1 in regulation. That is incredibly bad. Even Buffalo, who have been trying to ice a purposefully bad team all year, went 10-16-4 against the Atlantic.
Edmonton has been tested against its direct rivals and have been found wanting in almost every regard. When the season is over and everything is being evaluated, this record (surely to be worse before the clock strikes midnight on the season) is going to be the one that becomes the catalyst for change. This will be the one that hurts the most and forces management to adjust the roster most dramatically.
The Oilers are not built to win in this Division. They don’t have the size, the defense, or the goaltending to apparently even be competitive. Size and some defense might be on its way in the form of Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse, but both are so young and inexperienced that it’s likely they need more time before becoming impact players. Even then, the Oilers need more, so much more, to stop being a punching bag for the Pacific division.
Craig MacTavish said he was comfortable with most of the defense returning next year. He said he thought the Klefbom/Schultz pair had the makings of a top pairing. In reality nobody in Edmonton could possibly be content with the state of the defense. It is my sincerest hope that MacT was just making face noise for the cameras when he said these things.
Even when healthy this roster is the slow and crippled member of the pack that the wolves target right away. There can be no question of that. They need top flight players in key positions, stat. It’s hard to project the Oilers doing any better than the bottom of the West until these issues are sorted.
Cut the fat from the defense and add in legitimate players. It’s the only way. That means making tough decisions on the Captain and Nikitin who both have contracts next year and in Ference’s case for the year after that. Only time will tell if the team is willing to do the right thing.
LINEUP
Richard Bachman has returned to the team. He left to be with family and grieve after the death of his brother but now is ready to play again. Again, I re-iterate my condolences for the Bachman family. Nelson is leaning towards playing him tonight and, personally, I would love to see it. I think by now we recognize that for whatever reasons Ben Scrivens can’t get the job done on a regular basis. Fasth was also practicing with the team and there’s reason to believe he plays in this final week too. It may be one last game for all 3 Oiler goaltenders as the team limps out of the season. RNH and Gordon are not expected to be in the lineup but Fayne might be. Tyler Pitlick was reactived from IR today which means Miller was sent back to OKC. I’ve never been high on Pitlick but he brings a physical element that the team could always use.
Pouliot Hall Eberle Purcell Roy Yakupov Gazdic Hendricks Klinkhammer Fraser Lander Pitlick
Klefbom Schultz Marincin Musil Davidson Aulie
Bachman
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Spleen-did Performance. Tyler Pitlick will return to game action for the first time in months since he lacerated his spleen delivering a massive hit. I spoke to a couple doctors off hand about that kind of injury and it is apparently relatively common in high impact sports injuries and car accidents. Essentially he was involved in an on-ice collision that could be simulated by driving your car into a wall. When Pitlick is healthy (as he presumably is now) he doesn’t add much in the way of offense, but he has NHL speed and brings a very physical element to his game. So long as he can still bring that physicality without fear of getting hurt then he can carve out an NHL career as a 4th line energy guy.
2) Musil Learns. I’m pretty sure it was his 1st shift of the game but he was so twisted up that he ended up quite literally twirling around in front of the net instead of doing anything to prevent the eventual goal against. After that he started to look more comfortable. He wasn’t nearly as slow as I was expecting based on scouting reports either. There’s hope for him yet as a bottom pairing defender but he needs more time. These games that he gets into need to be learning experiences that are taken home and studied until there’s nothing else he can learn from them. Under any other circumstances he would still be in the AHL plying his craft. Today he’s in the NHL playing hungry teams whose playoff lives are on the line. What a wonderful opportunity.
3) Simple and Safe. No, it wont be exciting, but if the Oilers want to be competitive they need to make this one of the most simple games they’ve ever played. Edmonton dominated the possession in the 1st period against the Flames and still were down by the 1st Intermission because Calgary made them pay for rookie mistakes. The Kings will feast on Edmonton if they cant get their game together. They don’t need it to be pretty, they just need to execute. With so many inexperienced players they cant afford to be cutesy. Finish checks, get the puck deep on line changes, stock expression, stock expression. Whatever cliché they want to use is appropriate. They don’t have the horses to run any other race with the Kings. Not today.
Puck Drops at 7:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Tank On!
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