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Edmonton's Best Players - Anything But Right Now |
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Oilers fans have taken a few things for granted over the past eight+ years. They have had the privilege of watching two of the best players in the NHL dominate the scoring race, year after year. This season however, the Edmonton Oilers are faced with something that every other team in the NHL deals with; scoring slumps.
McDavid and Draisaitl aren't producing right now. Whether it is because of McDavid's nagging injuries or just bad puck luck, things aren't going well for the Oilers best two players. While I do think the Oilers have done a good job over the past couple years, shedding at least some of the "two player team" persona, that is being thrown away with this start.
The Oilers had three goals against the Lightning from their bottom six. Derek Ryan scored two goals, including a short-handed goal and Hamblin scored his first ever NHL goal. Combine that with the typical 3 or 4 point nights from McDavid and Draisaitl and you have an easy win. Instead the Oilers lost 6-4 against the Lightning. The powerplay, the Oilers bread and butter that they typically make teams suffer on, went 0/5. Kucherov, Point, and Stamkos led the way for Tampa...McDavid and Draisaitl did not.
The worst part? This "scoring slump" for Draisaitl and McDavid would have both players on pace right now for a 107 point season and a 76 point season; awful numbers for those two players but there are plenty of NHL teams that wish their top players had that kind of production. It just highlights how poor this team really is when it's two best players aren't going supernova every single night.
Tonight Edmonton plays the Panthers; a team without Barkov. Edmonton will be playing Calvin Pickard, a goalie that hasn't appeared in an NHL game since 21/22 with the Red Wings. He posted a 0.875SV% in the 3 NHL games he played that season.
Should be a barn burner.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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