The comeback was fun. But the game that put the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-2 hole is the one they’ve been trying to eradicate all season long.
“We were a little soft in front of the net,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch after a 5-4 loss in Columbus. “Whether they were deflecting pucks, or getting inside of us… There were multiple goals (against) like that.”
The Oilers have lost the net front at both ends of the rink on far too many nights this season. Like losing the line of scrimmage in football, you won’t win many games when the other team dominates the low slot at both ends.
This game had more of that, with multiple Columbus goals coming on tips, close-in rebounds, or shots from inside eight feet.
“We’re giving up too many looks from the slot,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, “and making Picks (Calvin Pickard) make too many big saves.”
Offensively, with Zach Hyman having missed the entire season thus far, the Oilers have not scored enough dirty goals from those hard-to-go places that are uncomfortable to inhabit. They’ve been a perimeter team on offence, and in their own end, soft play in front of their goalie has become the norm.
On Thursday, a big, hard player like Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier simply camped out in front of Pickard, scoring twice from in close. The Columbus bruiser had a three-point night, and perhaps due to the beating he laid on Trent Frederic three nights before in Edmonton, the Oilers were only willing to stick check Olivier. No one was putting a shoulder into the Jackets’ beefy winger.
“(The Oilers must) make it harder for them to get inside position on us,” Knoblauch said. “Too often they were left alone in front of the net with just (Pickard) by himself.”
Pickard’s numbers this year are gruesome: a 4.17 goals-against average and an .830 saves percentage. Forget about replacing Stuart Skinner, as many fans are calling for. Pickard’s game has a long ways to travel before he is that viable backup that won crucial playoff games last spring.
The Blue Jackets hit six goal posts on the night, and we’ll let you decide if that was just good luck for the Oilers goalie, or if that’s all the Columbus snipers had to shoot at with Pickard in perfect position. In the end they scored five times on 25 shots, a recipe for a road loss if ever there was one.
The Olivier line, with Charlie Coyle and Cole Sillinger, had three goals and seven points between them. Not bad for a third line.
“They have a lot of guys that can produce points and score when you give them time and space, and we gave too much of it,” Nurse said
Give the Oilers some credit, however. Their defensive game was poor, but they did have the backbone to turn the game around and push Columbus right to the final buzzer.
Trailing 2-0, then 5-2, the Oilers peppered the Blue Jackets’ net right to the final buzzer on a Thursday night thriller at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. On the second night of a back to back, the Oilers got stronger as the game wore on.
Early on they didn’t have the look of a team that had this kind of comeback in them, with just six shots on goal at the midway point of the game. At one point they trailed the Jackets by 18 in the shot attempts category, but by game’s end they led that stat 61-52.
OIL SPILLS — Hyman, who hasn’t played since leaving Game 4 of the Western Conference Final last spring with a dislocated wrist, is finally ready to make a return. “We anticipate he’ll be ready to play on Saturday (at Carolina),” Knoblauch said … Oilers are 40-20-8 all-time versus the Blue Jackets, but in Columbus they’re now 14-14-3 — and Edmonton hasn’t won at Nationwide Arena since 2019 … Draisaitl’s two goals tonight leaves him 24 points of 1,000 in his career … With career assists No. 740 and 741, McDavid moved past Norm Ullman and into 51st place on the NHL’s all-time list. Next up, Denis Potvin (742) … Edmonton is on a run of 12 road games in their next 18 games. They’ve now dropped eight of their last 10 on the road.
