Oilers Takeaways: Despite latest loss, key elements beginning to fall into line

You can’t judge a team when it doesn’t get any goaltending, and that was the case as the Oilers lost 6-2 in Seattle on a rough night for farmhand netminder Olivier Rodrigue.

Edmonton outshot the Kraken 30-23 — 23-16 over the last 40 minutes in which all eight goals were scored — but Rodrigue left them, needing seven to win on a night he’ll want to forget, as the Oilers pre-season record falls to 3-4 with one game left to play — Friday in Vancouver.

If you watched closely, however, you saw elements beginning to fall into line for Edmonton. The power play was more organized, the penalty kill went a perfect four-for-four, and the Oilers looked more like themselves, having more than their share of the game despite the final score.

The team will head to Vancouver for a team-building exercise on Thursday — the annual pickleball tournament — and conclude their pre-season (thankfully) against the Canucks on Friday night.

Here’s what we saw in Seattle:

Travis Dermott — The former Maple Leaf is without a contract (on a PTO), but he’s giving the Oilers pause with his performance at camp. He’s a bit of a tweener —  small, but not a big points producer, much like Troy Stecher — but he scored once and went to the net effectively in Seattle. The question is if Dermott can defend well enough to steal a job from either Josh Brown or Stecher, with one pre-season game left to play.

Olivier Rodrigue — At 24, Rodrigue is six seasons past his draft year and still hasn’t played in an NHL game. He was below average in this one, allowing four goals on five second-period shots for Seattle. He’s a nice American League goalie, and will share the pipes in Bakersfield with Collin Delia this season.

The Power play — The Oilers power-play unit went one-for-five, but had by far its best possessions of the pre-season. They squandered 1:02 of five-on-three time, and although the overall picture was an increasingly familiar one, the goal light only went on once when Leon Draisaitl finished a nice passing play for his first of the pre-season. It’s close to being the unit we’ve become accustomed too, and we’d predict that the second unit will get more time this season than in years past.

The Second Line — This was their best night of the pre-season, but like the power play, there is still plenty of room to improve. Draisaitl is Draisaitl. Viktor Arvidsson’s game is easy to appreciate — he’s a worker bee with much courage and lots of skills. It’s Jeff Skinner who is the question mark thus far, as the left-winger hasn’t had many moments this fall. He’s been quiet, with by far the furthest distance to travel of the three, no question, before the games begin to count.

Noah Philp — Every game he’s played, he’s been good. To the point where it’s hard to see anyone else being the 13th forward when the rosters are announced on Monday afternoon — if indeed the Oilers carry 13 forwards. Philp had a couple of nice scoring chances in 10:17 of ice time, and won five of seven faceoffs, after entering the game at just less than 60 per cent this fall.

Brownie Points

Josh Brown spent 2:51 on the penalty kill Wednesday, as the Oilers PK unit was perfect. He’ll get consideration for the top six based on his size and ability to help that unit.

“We lost a lot of components up front (Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod) but also on the right side of the defence (Cody Ceci and Vincent Desharnais). That’s a big part of (Brown’s) DNA,” said Knoblauch. “We’ve got (Ty) Emberson, whom we feel confident can kill, and (Brett) Kulak did a lot more of that in the playoffs after not doing much in regular season. We’ve also talked of Bouchard doing some penalty-killing, so we’ll wait and see.”

Arvidsson blocked a couple of shots on the PK as well, and looks like he’ll more than fill in for Foegele or McLeod.

Pickin’ and Grinnin’

Backup goalie Calvin Pickard was practising with the non-game players Wednesday, and sounds like he’ll be good to go as Skinner’s backup when the season starts next Wednesday. He might even get some work in Vancouver Friday, after being driven into his net frame in a collision between teammate Noah Philp and Seattle’s Yanni Gourde on Monday.

“Pretty big collision, but all things considered, I’m pretty happy the way I’m feeling the last few days,” said Pickard, who has played just 42:37 in the pre-season. “I don’t know if it’s a concern. Last year I played one (pre-season) game but got off to a really good start to regular season. Mentally I’m in a good spot.

“There was some rust there but everybody’s dealing with it.”