Rough start looms large for Oilers in a game they could have won

It’s hard enough to beat the Carolina Hurricanes when you play smart, detailed hockey.

The Edmonton Oilers tried it the other way for the first 20 minutes Sunday, and even though their game smartened up in the final 40 minutes they never caught up in a competitive 2-1 loss in Raleigh.

“I would say there were moments in this game that maybe didn’t go the way we wanted them to,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “But there were a lot of really good moments and a lot of really good details in our game.”

It truly was one careless period that could not be overcome by two well-played ones. In the final 40 minutes Edmonton played an excellent road gamer against one of the NHL’s elite teams, but could not manage to squeeze a second goal past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen.

“There are two things you can do,” said industrious winger Zach Hyman of a 2-0 first-intermission deficit. “Either you can lay over and let them run over you, or you can battle back and play hard. I thought we did that. We end up getting one (goal), but just fell short.”

So, what sewered a very strong Oilers performance on Sunday?

Warren Foegele made a key mistake just 51 seconds into the his return to Carolina when the former Canes winger carelessly stepped offside while trying to get in on a two-on-one with Connor McDavid, negating the goal the Oilers star would score upon video review. It was a goal Edmonton sorely needed in the end, and an unforced error that proved mega costly.

Eleven minutes later Evan Bouchard walked right down main street only to miss the net — his third missed net of the game at that early juncture. The puck immediately went the other way and ended up in Edmonton’s net on a lovely passing play, as it would five minutes after that with the Oilers serving that beacon of disorganization, the minor penalty for having too many men on the ice.

Three mistakes. Two goals against. One goal scrubbed.

“We can be better for sure,” said Woodcroft. “When you’re playing a game against a team as talented and hard working as the Carolina Hurricanes, those are the small moments within the game that you have to find a way to win. Tonight we didn’t.”

Friendly fire? Dumb mistakes?

Call them whatever you want, but a distracted opening period and an excellent Carolina club were two impediments the Oilers could not overcome Sunday, their third straight strong effort on a road trip that began in Tampa and Florida.

“It’s three really good teams, and we came away with one (win) of the three,” Hyman said. “Wanted more, but I thought we played well and all those games. You know, later on when it gets down to the nitty gritty in the playoffs and whatnot. Games are tight, teams are good, and this is a big learning experience for us.”

McDavid drew a high-sticking double-minor in the first period when Brady Skjei’s stick appeared to cause some dental damage, but the captain had to miss the entire man advantage — and the rest of the period — as he got sewn up in the dressing room. The Oilers lost the special teams battle here as well, going 0-for-4 on the power play while allowing a goal to the Hurricanes power play, which left goalie Mike Smith chanceless on a nifty passing play.

“I thought our compete was off the charts,” said Woodcroft. “They pushed us, we pushed them … It was a heck of a hockey game. There’s lots of good.”

Defensively, these Oilers have made huge strides under Woodcroft. They allowed only 23 shots in Tampa on Wednesday, and just 29 shots in Raleigh while playing the second of back-to-back games on this trip. Smith was more than good enough in the nets, holding a team with a plus-60 goals differential to just two goals and giving his team ample chance to eke out at least a point.

In the big picture, this group is well past the “learning lessons” stage of its collective development. But playing this well defensively in this environment is something they’ve been chasing for a long time, and there are tangible signs that perhaps the Oilers under Woodcroft are closing in on their goals when it comes to team play.

“I believe that there’s a lot of good in that game. Our team showed me a lot in this this game, in a tough environment and a back-to-back situation,” the coach said. “The competitiveness of our team has impressed me through this first three games. The level of opponent has been excellent and each one of those opponents brought or presented different issues for us. We had the chance to win each one of those games.”

Edmonton played without some key names, as the injuries are beginning to mount.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed his second game with what appeared to be a shoulder injury — he’s likely done for the trip, and maybe more. Kailer Yamamoto did not play either after blocking a shot Saturday in Florida. Woodcroft listed him as day to day, in a lineup that is also missing Jesse Puljujarvi and Duncan Keith to injury.

The road trip closes in Philadelphia and Chicago, where the game the Oilers played in Raleigh should be enough to garner three or four points.

The way they played in the final 40 minutes, anyhow.