EDMONTON — The hapless Buffalo Sabers face each other. Against Edmonton Oilers a team that had a rest and found its way.
Talk about a wasted point.
“Yes, yes. I think so,” said Vasily Podkolzin. “We should have won.”
On a night when the worst team in hockey walked into Edmonton's barn and outplayed them, a miraculous finish softened the blow somewhat for the home team. A Connor McDavid A six-on-five goal at 19:58 of the third gave everyone something else to talk about, instead of another Evan Bouchard defensive shambles and an Oilers offense that runs a “four-corner offense” better than Duke.
It's not fatal. But such a performance – just as Edmonton found a more straightforward game that became the turning point of their season – is a mystery at best and a minor tragedy at worst.
“I don't think it was a bad game for us. It was just a matter of finding a way to break them down,” he said. Ryan Nugent-Hopkinsafter a 4-3 overtime loss to the lowly Sabres. “We did it eventually, but you want to get to it a little earlier.”
Shouldn't they beat this Sabers team for fun?
“That’s not the case in this league anymore,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “They've lost three in a row, they're playing in a row. Last night they lost seven to Calgary, so you know they're going to want to defend tough and play tough in front of their goalie.”
Here's the reality of it all: Edmonton opened this five-game homestand with a well-played and hard-fought 1-0 loss to Minnesota. If they bounce back to take two points in the final against Detroit on Thursday, they will have seven of the last eight points available.
This is not the time to bash Bouchard or criticize a good power play that went 0-for-4 on the night.
We have 30 games, and Edmonton played 20 minutes and earned a point. You take it and move on.
“I would like to play the full 60, especially since we are moving in the right direction.” Zach Hyman said. “The first 40 points weren't very good, but I really liked the reaction of the group. It's easy to be 3-0 down and just walk away and write the game off. But we didn't do that.”
“We scored on the first shift (of the third period) and then we scored another one in the next two minutes and you're right back in the game. You can snatch a point out of a game where you're in a hole. So I think that's a positive.”
Edmonton's warts were invisible in a pair of blowout wins over Seattle (9-4) and Winnipeg (6-2). They showed up again in this one, as Edmonton had the puck for most of the first frame but stubbornly refused to put it in the Sabres' net.
“I can think of up to 10 times where we had the puck in the slot and couldn't get a shot,” head coach Chris Knoblauch said. “Any time you get on that dangerous ice, you have to be ready to shoot.
“It’s very rare to pass if you can get the puck into the middle of the ice, and I think we did that too many times.”
The Oilers' dirty little habit, when they start to get a feel for their game, is exactly this: they act like the Harlem Globetrotters, circling the zone in this “intertwined offense” while the opponent simply defends the middle of the ice.
It happens naturally. Highly skilled players look for beautiful, underhanded exits until the situation becomes desperate, as it did on Tuesday when the game went down 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Edmonton then goes back to desperate goal-scoring hockey. Connor McDavid switches to shooting mode, players head towards the net and pucks tend to end up in the net.
This is a game they can play and play effectively. But for some reason they avoid it, like a child avoids math homework – until it becomes absolutely necessary and can no longer be put off.
“We have a job to do,” Podkolzin said. “We have a lot of good habits and we have the best players in the world here, so we need to bring more.”
If Bouchard “brings” a little more – either doesn't give the puck to Tage Thompson for a freebie, doesn't lose the battle to Alex Tuch to open overtime, or doesn't mess up the read and leave Tuch open to score the overtime winner – Edmonton will likely get two points on Tuesday.
He ended up playing a record 28:01. We think it's common practice here that every now and then he just passes the goal to his opponent.
What is Knoblauch's approach when a player makes a gaffe as big as Bouchard's on Thompson?
“Mostly the conversation the next day is about what happened during the game,” the coach said. “To rip him off between periods or on the bench, I don't think that's productive. He knows he made a mistake. He knows it's the wrong play.”
And as a team they know they can play better. Or at least closer to 50 minutes rather than 20 like the Oilers had on Tuesday.
That's why guys they play 82.
