The Edmonton Oilers took another step toward draft lottery supremacy Tuesday night, falling 2-1 to the Vancouver Canucks. Edmonton's fifth consecutive loss leaves the team with 36 points in 52 games this season, which means the team would have to win 16 consecutive games in order to have as many points as games played. That's not going to happen, and the Oilers haven't played a meaningful game in six weeks, maybe more, but that simply allows us to focus on the effort rather than the end result. Excuse my optimism for a moment, but I think Tuesday's spirited performance gives Oiler fans a chance to draw a few slivers of silver out of the dark cloud that's surrounded the team this season.
1) Scrivens Steps Up
Making his home debut, Ben Scrivens showed poise and composure, stopping 25 of 27 shots. I suppose it'll be another week or two before we quit wondering how Devan Dubnyk would have fared between the pipes night to night, but I thought Scrivens was very strong positionally and didn't allow any softies that broke the back of his defenders. Two backcheckers should box out Kellan Lain on the Canucks' first goal, and Jeff Petry has to get down to block Zack Kassian's shot rather than being a front-row spectator on the second one. Scrivens wasn't perfect, but repeating that kind of effort on a nightly basis should result in a few wins and help the newcomer endear himself to the fanbase.
2) Third Period Pushback
Edmonton kept battling right to the final buzzer, outshooting the Canucks 12-5 in the third period and 29-27 overall. Tuesday's game marked the first time the Oilers have outshot the opposition in the third period since the comeback victory over Pittsburgh on Jan. 10, and it was the first time the team doubled up a team in the final frame since the 6-2 shellacking of the Jets on Dec. 23. It's no coincidence that the Oilers won both of those games, and it helped give them a chance for another comeback victory. Sure cynics could point out that the Canucks were missing some key players, and seemed to be running on fumes down the stretch, but the pushback is a welcome change.
3) Tip Your Lid to Luongo
I've never been a fan of Roberto Luongo's game, and I'd rather don a pair of sandpaper pants than see him get the starting nod over Carey Price at the Olympics, but he was dynamite against the Oilers. Some nights you just have to tip your cap to the best player on the ice. Luongo controlled rebounds effectively, stayed square to the shooters, and demoralized the Edmonton forwards by turning aside their best chances. The Oilers' lone goal came as a result of crashing the cage, which is exactly what you have to do against a guy who's seeing the puck well and stopping everything that comes his direction.
4) Eberle Keeps Chugging
Edmonton only has nine goals during its last five games, and the lack of offensive has been just as responsible for the team's five-game slide as the lack of defense, but Eberle has been doing his part to tickle the twine lately. The dopey-eyed sniper has scored in each of the last three games, tallying three of the team's last four goals. You wish his nose for the puck and willingness to shoot it would rub off on some of his teammates, because he's been shouldering too much of the load amid a group of slumpers and dumpers. The Oilers will have a couple days off before hosting the Coyotes on Friday, so hopefully they can regain their scoring touch when Phoenix rolls into town.
5) Power Play Shows Pop
One of the most encouraging signs of the night was the puck movement on the power play. It didn't result in a goal, but the spacing was effective and zone entries were better than we've typically seen during the last couple weeks. Those fundamentals might not be very sexy, but a lack of attention to them and poor execution are the key factors behind the team's 21st-ranked power play. The faceoff dot was another source of positives on Tuesday night. as each of the Oilers' four centers won at least 50 percent of their draws. The absence of Henrik Sedin and Mike Santorelli could have factored into those results but I won't complain, especially with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins winning 11 of his 17 faceoffs.
6) No Kassian Retribution
After the goonery and thuggery displayed over the weekend, I was relieved to see the team focus on playing the game, rather than seeking retribution for ancient history. At this point, what good would it do to run Kassian? I thought Eakins handled the subject of retribution perfectly in his postgame comments, not only taking Mark Spector to task for questioning the team's physicality after outhitting the Canucks 28-13, but also saying, "I saw talk between a guy on our team that handles (retribution) very well and that player (Kassian), and one player wasn't willing to engage. ... We can go slash him, crosscheck him in the face, but I'm not sure what that does to helping us win the game when it's a close game." Amen.
ryan.garner@hockeybuzz.com