HURRICANES BLOW PAST OILERS
Edmonton’s tale of woe continues
RALEIGH, N.C. You know all that talk about the Edmonton Oilers being “visually better” on the ice this season? Well, in Carolina, the visuals weren’t pretty.
They are what it says they are in the standings, certainly with their no-show against the Hurricanes Wednesday.
They looked, numbingly, like cellar-dwellers in the 30th-precinct of the National Hockey League. You can talk yourself blue in the face about Jordan Staal’s hopper from behind the net that pinballed off the left skate of Griffin Reinhart and past goalie Anders Nilsson with 16 seconds left in the first period. Or the Justin Faulk pass to Jeff Skinner that ricocheted off his skate-boot and past Nilsson.
Or, the one-in-a-million chain of events 21/2 minutes into the second frame as linesman Matt MacPherson stumbled off a faceoff at centre-ice, and trying not to do a face-plant, reached for a lifeline. He grabbed Oilers winger Nail Yakupov, and Yakupov’s left leg bent awkwardly. Not a good play by the zebra, in hindsight, dragging down an unsuspecting player in a scrum.
While Yakupov never returned, he might not be as badly hurt as it looked on TV replay, according to folks around the Oilers lockerroom. And that’s certainly not why the Oilers took a knee, losing 4-1 to the Hurricanes. They all made mistakes, even the good, two-way players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who let Elias Lindholm get by him for the ’Canes second goal.
Yeah, this was a Thanksgiving turkey after the first period, certainly after the Oilers’ inspired 1-0 loss in Washington — a game they would have won but for goalie Braden Holtby. Or any of the other six games they’ve dropped by a single goal this season.
This was the Oilers looking like Dallas Eakins’ Oilers, defensively. They’ve got skill, but the will went missing somewhere between the Verizon Center in downtown Washington and the PNC Arena in Raleigh 48 hours later. They lost on the scoreboard, in the corners, in the faceoff circle.
Very disappointing, as they tumbled to 7-14-1, very close to being out of the playoff picture again, with stops in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Toronto to come, carrying a 3-9 road record on this five-game trip.
Mark Letestu stood in the Oilers dressing room after the game waiting for the media. His words cut to the core, about how they could look so good against a Cup contender in Washington and be schooled by the Hurricanes, who are 8-10-4.
“Any time you set the bar at a certain level, it becomes the expectation,” said Letestu.
“You play teams like Washington and play them tough but just because you’re playing a team lower in the standings, it can’t change. Tonight it did. Once the bar’s at a certain level, it’s unacceptable to be under it. We got what we deserved.”
“We started the way we wanted to, establishing our power play early on (Benoit Pouliot goal), they got a lucky one at the end of the first (Staal), then when it came time to answer the bell in the second they were the first off the stool. We didn’t get off it, at all. We got out-competed badly in the second period (out-scored 2-0), whether it was little puck battles or executing our systems and played into their game. And when you get a team that’s so dominant in the faceoff circle (best in the league at 53.8 per cent), it’s tough to come back.”
After the game, Oilers coach Todd McLellan looked like a father whose kids had let him down, as much hurt as angry. This game soiled so many good efforts, even in the “moral victory” category.
This one wasn’t on Nilsson, either. He hung tough, much tougher than many in front of him.
“Our goaltender wasn’t capable of getting up in the forecheck or establishing a net-front presence or backchecking like he’s determined, or winning a faceoff battle or physically engaging in the game. He has to stay in the crease. He was fine,” said McLellan.
The Hurricanes, as McLellan said, “took every inch of ice.”
So how do you get more fire in the belly? It has to come from the head.
“You’re not going to get 20 per cent stronger overnight. It’s not like they’re in the gym every day becoming bodybuilders. We are what we are. Mentally, the determination has to go up. We have some skill people who have to figure it out that it takes more than the finish,” said McLellan.