’CANES PROVE UNCATCHABLE
No rally in Raleigh as Oilers drop their third straight
The losing’s getting very old — just one win in the last 10 games — but it’s one thing to get one goal on a two-time Stanley Cup winner like Matt Murray Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
But just one in Carolina Friday against a 35-year-old journeyman Curtis McElhinney, who is 77-77-14 with a 2.80 goal average through 11 seasons?
Now that stings for the Edmonton Oilers, who have six wins in their last 24 games.
That is not playoff worthy, folks. If this was the Premiership in Britain, they’d be relegated.
And on Friday, McElhinney did them in, again. McElhinney may be a career backup who was picked up on waivers from Toronto just before the season, but he has the Oilers’ number.
He’s never lost to them wherever he’s played in his 208 NHL games, and ran his record to 7-0 with a 40-stop, 3-1 win to stick a knife in the Oilers’ playoff balloon.
He made eight stops on Alex Chiasson, six on Darnell Nurse, and four on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who was the only guy to beat him 92 seconds in.
“Last year in Toronto, he stood on his head and beat us 1-0,” said McDavid. “I don’t know if we’ve had a game where we generated more chances than that one.”
He sure looks like he has the Oilers wrapped around his little finger. “Yeah, whatever,” said McDavid, smiling softly.
The Penguins beat the Oilers 3-1 too with an empty-netter, with Murray making 38 stops. They were marginally better than Pittsburgh in this one, but definitely had the grade-A large chances against the ’Canes.
Carolina got two from Nino Niederreiter, the last a dagger, 2-on-1 break with maybe the most underrated good player in the league, Sebastian Aho, who set up both goals.
Lucas Wallmark had the other as they scored on their second and third shots against a very limp Oilers defence.
“It’s unfortunate,” began Milan Lucic. “Eighty shots in the last two games and some really good looks. Just weren’t able to get another past him.”
We’ve beaten the McDavid-Draisaitl storyline to death: If they don’t score, the Oilers are usually cooked.
Draisaitl has seven goals over the last six games and the rest of the team has six, with Zack Kassian, who had a very strong game against Carolina, setting up Draisaitl, getting two. McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ty Rattie and Nurse have the others in their five losses.
They’re dying for a goal from the likes of Colby Cave, Brad Malone, Jesse Puljujarvi or Jujhar Khaira. But there are none there.
“You work this hard with this many scoring chances and you deserve a better reward,” said coach Ken Hitchcock.
The ’Canes scored 37 seconds into the game’s first shift, on Niederreiter’s goal while all alone, following a familiar pattern.
In the last four games against Carolina, the Oilers have given up goals at 37 seconds, 28 seconds, 4:20 and 20 seconds, according to ace historian Reid Wilkins at 630 CHED.
The 4:20 is the outlier obviously, seven shifts in before the anthem barely ended.
Carolina has scored in the first minute six times this season and twice now against Edmonton.
Probably not, but Draisaitl, who got his 34th on a nifty twoon-one feed from Kassian, 55 seconds after the Niederreiter goal, is on pace for 48 which would be the most by an Oilers player since Jimmy Carson had 49 in 1989-90, the first season after they got him in the Wayne Gretzky trade.
Puljujarvi played nine-anda-half minutes, still trying but looking lost.
“This is a man’s league and there’s no room for patience. He looks like he has no confidence and yet when he was drafted he was as good as the other guy (Patrik Laine) when I watched him,” said an executive with another NHL club.
Niederreiter has scored in the first minute of a game four times in his career … Matt Benning could play in Brooklyn against the Islanders Saturday night. He had a rib issue but is fine now … Fellow defenceman Brandon Manning was scratched for the third time in the last five games and seventh in the 19 games since the Drake Caggiula trade Dec. 30.