You can lay it all at the feet of the goalie if you’d like, because that’s the easiest way to explain a 4-0 deficit to the National Hockey League’s last-place team.
But that would be letting 18 skaters off the hook, all of whom showed up an hour late for work Saturday in Columbus.
Or, you could praise the Edmonton Oilers for making this a wildly entertaining 6-5 loss to the Blue Jackets. But the head coach, Jay Woodcroft, wasn’t heading down that road either.
“I know we mounted a comeback,” Woodcroft said. “Some people had some good efforts, but not enough. Too many passengers today for us, and not detailed enough. And we were made to pay.”
Slice it up however you want, the Oilers’ loss in Columbus Saturday meant they dropped three of four points to a team that’s spent most of the season in 32nd place.
“An embarrassing start. An embarrassing finish,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who went super nova in Period 2. “Not quite good enough.”
But back to Oilers goalie Jack Campbell, who has been very good, but was only average on Saturday — like the rest of the Oilers. He was pulled after allowing four goals, but it’s too easy to tag him with this loss.
How the Blue Jackets scored:
1-0 – A top-of-the-crease tap in by Kirill Marchenko off a pass from the corner.
2-0 – A top-of-the-crease deflection by Boone Jenner.
3-0 – A bar-down Marchenko wrist shot from the hash marks, with all day to pick his spot.
4-0 – Patrik Laine off a weird carom, a goal Campbell lost positioning on.
After that, the Oilers woke up and scored four goals in a span of 8:42 to leave this game tied after 40 minutes. But, alas, they had only 20 minutes of hockey in them on this day, and even Columbus will beat you when mail in 40 minutes.
Warren Foegele gets credit for starting the comeback with a goal, and he now has six in his past nine games.
“Yeah, but I was on for four goals against,” he said after a team-low minus-3. “That can’t happen, especially as a depth player. You can’t be on for any goals, let alone four. I have to be better, and I know I will.”
This was only Edmonton’s second regulation loss in 18 games.
They are 11-2-5 since Jan. 11, behind only Carolina’s lofty .906 points percentage since that date, 11-3-3 in their last 17 road games. The Oilers have scored at least four goals in six straight games, dispelling any need for further offence at the trade deadline.
This is a team that needs structure, and likely allows too many scoring chances that are Grade A-plus. Just ask Campbell, who just didn’t have any miracles in him on Saturday.
“We have a certain standard in terms of our detail, and an adherence to structure that I didn’t see a lot of tonight,” Woodcroft said. “In the last two regulation wins, we gave up two goals against. Anytime we’re flirting with four, five and six, I don’t think it’s to our advantage.”
The culprits, in the end, were many:
Ryan McLeod passing through too many skates. Philip Broberg passing to the wrong team. Big Foegele getting pushed off pucks. Darnell Nurse allowing Marchenko to stand around in the slot. Brett Kulak failing to tie up Jenner’s stick. Campbell not making enough saves.
This loss was a team effort, to be sure.
“In the end,” Woodcroft said, “when you make those types of plays in the National Hockey League, it ends up in your back your net more often than not.”
McDavid had another big day, with two goals and two assists. This was his third straight two-goal game, and he’s got back-to-back four-point games.
Leon Draisaitl (36 goals) has scored in seven straight, but in the end, it was the moments when the Oilers weren’t scoring that they simply gave up too much, allowing the league’s 30th offence to cash six times.
They showed up late, and leaked away two points they should reap nine nights out of 10.
“We’re all professionals here. You know, we all have to dig in and find a way and tonight we didn’t,” said Foegele, who wouldn’t take the bait of an odd 12:30 p.m. ET start. “The other team is doing the same thing, so I don’t think that’s fair excuse.
“We’ve got to show up on time and tonight we didn’t.”