Oilers VS Leafs – Post Game Recap

So that just happened…

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Normally, I take a bunch of game notes and post a period by period breakdown for the post-game blogs. I did take a bunch of notes through the first two periods, but stopped early in the 3rd. I don’t think there’s any point in posting notes for this game when you can just watch the highlights or look at the score.

There wasn’t a lot to laugh about in this game other than how horrible the Oilers were. They were awful from top to bottom. They hung their goalie out to dry on every single goal against, and they stunk on the powerplay (again).

It’s time to deal with reality folks: This is the team we have moving forward. What is bizarre to me is that everyone seems to have chosen Jordan Eberle as their new whipping boy (as if he is somehow single handedly responsible for the Oilers woes). As this game progressed, it became painfully apparent to even the loudest of Eberle’s critics that he was not the only issue in this game. The offense was bad. The defense was bad. The power play was bad. Cam Talbot couldn’t single handedly bail them about.

The only player that gets a pass here is Connor McDavid, who still managed to walk away from this stinker with a goal and an assist. Imagine for a moment where this team would be without him? That one lottery win may have single handedly saved this franchise, and that’s a sobering thought.

While I was worried about this game before it even started, I didn’t expect the Oilers to play as poorly as they did. After dropping 2 straight games to the lowly Arizona Coyotes (the last of which pissed me off royally), I expected a better performance from the Oilers against a beatable Leafs squad. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This team needs to dig deep and decide if they have a new identity or if their soft October schedule made all the difference. The old excuses don’t hold water anymore. The notion that the Oilers needed a “culture change” and that Taylor Hall was the problem is quickly being exposed as nothing more than a myth perpetrated by Oiler fans who simply don’t understand the game of hockey. The next player in the crosshairs of those very same people seems to be Eberle, despite many of the same issues hanging over this organization.

You simply can’t blame ONE player for an anemic power play, or a top line that seems to have trouble scoring with one of the world’s greatest centres. If you want to point the finger at Eberle, be my guest, but you should also be pointing it at Lucic, Maroon, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, etc.

Anyways, here’s McDavid’s goal which was pretty much the only real highlight of the night (if you’re an Oilers fan):

McDangles™ #TORvsEDM pic.twitter.com/t4TR0twkFf

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 30, 2016

The Oilers face the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, and should not take the game lightly at all. Despite their struggles in the Central Division, the Jets sit just 2 points back of the Oilers in the West. To put that into perspective, if the Oilers were in the same division they’d sit 4th (just barely hanging on to a wildcard spot).

There is a very real danger the Oilers could fall off the face of the standings with just over a quarter of the season played, and it’s not only on the players to figure this thing out. The coaching staff needs to be placed under the microscope. The Oilers should have a much better power play, given their personnel. That falls squarely on the shoulders of Todd Mclellan and Jay Woodcroft, and in my humble opinion they bare just as much responsibility for this loss as the players do.

With the Sharks and the Ducks both picking up wins tonight, the Oilers have now fallen to 3rd in the Pacific with the Kings only 1 point behind them and the Canucks and the Flames within 4 points. It’s not time to start thinking about the draft already, but it is time for this team to rediscover the identity it built for itself in October.