NEWARK, N.J. — Soft and loose – it doesn’t win November, and it sure as heck won’t win in May and June.
But here are the win-one-lose-one Edmonton Oilers, trundling along playing one strong game in a row, then tuned-in by a New Jersey Devils team that is hockey’s best example of an outfit that brings it every night.
The Devils won their 13th straight game, beating Edmonton 5-2 Monday night in Newark, while the Oilers haven’t won back-to-back games since Nov. 1.
After a hard, responsible win on home ice versus Vegas on Saturday, the Oilers were shy on the details and deserving of the ‘L’ as they opened up a three-game road trip with a loose, soft loss at the Prudential Center.
What’s the solution?
“We're gonna need to find a solution,” offered winger Zach Hyman. “We need to start stringing games together. Not just have a good one, then an OK one, then a good one and then a not so good one. … We need to have some consistency to our game.
“And it's not early in the year anymore. We're closing in on the 20-game mark. So, we need to figure that out.”
The Oilers are a ho-hum 10-9, with game No. 20 set for UBS Arena near Belmont Park on Wednesday. The New York Islanders await, and they just beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road Monday night.
Edmonton surrendered a freebie on a Stuart Skinner puck-handling gaffe, and gave up their blue line all night long against a small, fast and feisty group of Devils forwards. This was a tough test against a marquee team, and Edmonton just did not measure up defensively.
Skinner gave the Devils a free goal when he fanned on a puck that ended up as an empty-netter for Dawson Mercer. It happens.
But just 3:30 later, he tripped while coming across the crease and couldn’t make the save on the 3-1 goal by Damon Severson.
One of those mistakes has to not happen, if you’re going to defeat a team as good as this Devils club.
“The tough one for me it was probably the third one,” Skinner said. “Kind of a little trip, and it gave them the 3-1 lead, which is something you never want to do.
“I tried to grab an edge and just lost it. I fell and I just kind of reached for it. That one stinks just because it gives them the 3-1 lead.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 3-2 just 4:52 into the third period, and Edmonton had all kinds of time to rescue a point or two. But shortly thereafter, a Devils rush resulted in Tomas Tatar standing all alone in front of Skinner, free to bat a puck out of the air and into Edmonton’s net.
It was just another example of the blue paint being a free-parking zone for Edmonton’s opponents this season.
“That's probably my fault. I think I should box him out after he shoots it,” said defenceman Tyson Barrie, who deflected Tatar’s original shot and was looking along the backboards for the wayward puck.
Unfortunately, it had hit Skinner and popped right back into the slot.
“I heard it hit Skins' blocker, so I was looking around to see where it (went),” explained Barrie. “I mean, give (Tatar) credit. He grabs it and hits it out of the air and into the net. But, yeah, I get my stick on the puck and I think I turned the wrong way. So, I should probably block him out there.”
Watching the play, assuming Barrie would take Tatar, was the trailing forward Jesse Puljujarvi. He had a front-row seat to the goal that swayed this game Jersey’s way — in great defensive position, but doing nothing with the positioning he had earned.
It was a scene we have witnessed far too often: the front of Edmonton’s net, and a skill guy standing there demonstrating how skillful he can be. That, in a nutshell, is where Edmonton has to improve its game — and we’re not sure the Oilers have the personnel to do it quite yet.
“We want to do a better job of contesting lines,” began Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I think the game changes when the opponent gets the blue line. If they do get the blue line and shoot the puck, they have got to get touched.
“They can't just have a free lane to tap in a rebound. That's one of those individual mistakes that we have to clean up.”
We’re 20 games in.
Sure, it was a bad break that a deflected shot — one that usually ends up on the glass — wound up in the slot. And because it was deflected, Skinner’s rebound control is compromised.
But Tatar left standing alone is a character trait this Oilers team will soon have to shed. Because we’re not even at the point of e season where teams start crashing the net with purpose yet.
“When you play a team that's on the roll that they're on, they make you pay for those individual errors,” Woodcroft observed. “We were made to pay tonight on some of our mistakes.”
It’s a recurring theme around here, and the 10-9 record tells the story of an average team through the first quarter of the 2022-23 season.
Soft and average.
It won’t do.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.