Inexcusable – Oilers Crushed On East Coast

In an 82 game season you will lose your fair share of games. There will be ups and there will be downs. That all said, this weekend was inexcusable by the Edmonton Oilers. The club was embarrassed on national TV Saturday in Montreal by a score of 5-1. On Sunday, it was worse, the Oilers were absolutely crushed by the Islanders. Final score: 8-1.

After two blowout wins earlier this week, the Oilers probably were due to come back to earth, but this is just absurd. The team smacked Columbus (5-1 win) and Ottawa (7-2) before laying these eggs in Montreal and Brooklyn. It truly was two steps forward, two steps backwards.

All of the little things, the good things, the Oilers had been doing disappeared from their game and those bad habits came screaming back. Countless turnovers and missed assignments from the defensive unit just killed this team. Justin Schultz is a big time culprit; he was abused in Montreal and New York, but Mark Fayne and Griffin Reinhart both REALLY struggled this weekend too.

Goaltending was suspect at best too. Anders Nilsson allowed three very weak goals on Sunday while Cam Talbot was lit up on both days. Neither guy was very good, although it was far from their fault. That said, Nilsson hasn’t given the Oilers anything close to quality since December, he doesn’t look like an NHL’er to me right now.

Finally, the forwards had some issues here too. The team struggled to push the pace and failed to take advantage of some favorable matchups. The line of Hall-Draisaitl-Purcell has to cash in on the weekend. They were gifted second line competition and failed to register a single goal. They really were non-factors in Montreal and that’s disappointing.

The Oilers seemingly struggled in both games to get anything over the blue line and as a result they became frustrated. Losing teams revert to old and bad habits when they get frustrated. That is EXACTLY what the Oilers did on Saturday and Sunday. Other teams made them pay for it.

The lack of push back, the lack of a forecheck, the lack of effort at times simply is not acceptable. This is a developing team and tough nights will happen, but there at least needs to be some give a damn. Outside of Connor McDavid, who was visibly frustrated and kept pushing, and Zack Kassian, who took out his frustrations on Brain Strait, there was little push from the Oilers. That’s not a good sign.

What Does This Weekend Mean:

For this season, it means nothing. The Oilers were out of the playoff race at the All-Star break, so it doesn’t impact that at all. What it does show us is what this team still needs to compete at the NHL level. Two embarrassing losses can’t be chalked up to bad bounces or just bad goaltending for the day.

Edmonton’s defensive woes were once again highlighted in this stretch. The team lacks enough top four NHL defenders to compete. Andrej Sekera can handle the job, but that’s it from the group that skated on the weekend. Oscar Klefbom will soon join him and that will help, but it’s not enough. The Oilers still need to add at least one top four defender, but ideally two. Yes, the Oilers need two right shot defenders to plug into their top four next season.

Travis Hamonic and Sami Vatanen? Odds are it won’t be both of them, but you get what I mean, Edmonton needs to add two guys to that spot. That, or they could add one guy and move Sekera to the right side permanently, elevating Brandon Davidson to a top four role.

Either way, the defense must be addressed this summer. It’s not good enough and this weekend highlighted it. Opposing forwards have too much room to work with in the offensive zone and puck battles against the Oilers are rarely battles.

I hate to keep picking on one guy, because in the end he’s a person and it gets to be too much, but Justin Schultz is the kind of defender Edmonton can’t have. Too easy to play against and lots of holes in his game. Edmonton needs to add some solid and steady guys to the unit.

Folks, it means this team is still not good enough and that this group needs a change to it’s roster. We knew that before the All-Star break, before the two blowout wins.

Final Thoughts:

If anything, this weekend taught us that change still must happen with this roster. The defense is still not good enough and needs AT LEAST one big time piece still. The forwards are still a work in progress and still, unfortunately, developing.

The roster is getting there, anyone can see that, but there is still work to be done. It’s frustrating after ten years, but these games just prove that Edmonton still doesn’t have the defensive horses to ride with the big dogs.

It also taught us that this team has a long way to go before being a respectable NHL organization again. The holes are still there and this group is too young and inconsistent to battle these more veteran playoff clubs and win their fair share. Todd McLellan must gets this group to play the system more consistently and must get strong efforts night in and night out.

We’ve seen progress throughout the season, but this weekend was a stark reminder that the road is still long and there are many turns to go. It was insanely frustrating to watch, but hopefully it was a lesson to this group of players.

I’m sure the GM, who is with the team on this trip, is hard at work putting his plan in place.