MELTDOWN IN BEANTOWN
I’m not even mad. I’m not. The whole thing seemed inevitable. As I was watching the game and seeing Keith Aulie do relatively well through 2 periods I was honestly telling myself “Well obviously he’s going to wait until the 3rd Period to cost the Oilers this game.… And he did not disappoint.
I’m disappointed and maybe even a touch broken up about it. I’m frustrated with this team but I’m not mad. The frustration stems from the fact that *this* Rebuild has been going on since 09/10 and the Oilers still struggle with the fact that games last 60 minutes. I would assume that this is pretty basic, but it isn’t. It is practically a criminal offense to lead the game 2-1 with 10 minutes to go in the 3rd and lose 5-2 in the NHL.
I don’t particularly want to go over this loss with a fine-tooth comb but it essentially comes down to the team having no idea what to do with a lead. Like the 3 year old who plays hide and seek by covering their eyes and assuming you cant see them, the Oilers stopped playing assuming Boston would do the same. They did the Hockey equivalent of this Football Fail.
The last Edmonton shot of the game came off the backhand of Boyd Gordon 8 and a half minutes into the 3rd Period. Ugh.
PRESSURE RISING
I don’t envy Dallas Eakins right now because I don’t think his game plan for the 3rd was “EVERYBODY FREAK OUT… but that’s what happened. The NHL is a results oriented business and even though the stats suggest this team is better than their record, that kind of thinking is still very new to Hockey. I mean Bob Hartley’s team is consistently outshot and outchanced every night but there are still people talking about how great his system is. His system’s name is Jonas Hiller and I doubt the love-in lasts when Calgary’s PDO regresses.
Edmonton in the Eakins Era has had a combined .904 sv% from their goaltenders. If we’re talking about Save Percentage then roughly .910 is replacement level goaltending. So the Oilers with Eakins at the helm have been getting less than NHL back-up quality netminding. That isn’t on Dallas Eakins.
Bad teams can get good goaltending. The myth of shot quality is strong but until I can see some proof that the Oilers give up such great chances that performance is impossible then I wont buy it. The fact is that Ben Scrivens had an alright run with Edmonton when he first got here and that was a significantly weaker team than this one, by eye and by number. I simply don’t think that the goaltending is on Eakins.
Now it MIGHT be time to let Freddie Chabot, the goaltender coach, go. That might not be fair, he could be providing great instruction that’s simply being wasted on guys who cant perform, but something is about to give. Bob McKenzie stated he thinks the Oil will make a trade before firing Eakins and with the way things are going in the City of Champions that move could happen at any minute.
LINEUP
I don’t even know what to expect anymore. The lineup from last night was pretty good for 50 minutes against the Bruins and AHL sideshow for 10 minutes. They are capable of playing decent hockey, but...well…you know. I’m penciling Fasth in because it’s a back to back but I don’t have a lot of confidence in either goalie right now. Maybe Eakins will opt to play in net himself. He can scarcely do a worse job.
Pouliot RNH Eberle Purcell Draisaitl Yakupov Pakarinen Arco Perron Hendricks Gordon Joensuu
Aulie Petry Klefbom Fayne Nikitin Schultz
Fasth
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Enroth. The Oilers are getting Buffalo’s back up based on early reports and that must feel good for them. That said, Enroth’.908 sv% dwarfs whatever the Oilers are throwing at the Sabres so the McDavid advantage is still with Edmonton. NOBODY OUT TANKS EDMONTON!
2) Statement. IF the Oilers arent already eyeing up that glorious McEichel duo then tonight has to be a statement game from them. Losing to the Sabres is not acceptable. All the work done by the 4 game winning streak has already been undone and the team blew an opportunity to close out against a team that’s had their number for 18 years. Show up with energy. Pretend like you get paid to play hockey for loads of money. Whatever makes you want to compete for a full 60 minutes.
3) The Process. Stick to it. I know the process doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot when the club’s record is 4-8-1 and they’re still looking for their 1st road win in the middle of November, but the skaters are doing better than last year. The team is putting themselves in bad spots less frequently but the Hockey gods just don’t favor them. They are a middle of the pack team in terms of CF% and FF% but everything is going in against them. Scrivens had another sub .900 game for them yesterday. In fact, they’ve had NINE sub .900 performances in their first 13 games.
This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record. This team isn’t as bad as their record.
Puck drops again at 5:08PM on some channel somewhere (Sportsnet West). Game On?
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