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8:30 PM MT
SAP Centre - San Jose, CA
SNW/630 CHED
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PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks
By Jamie Umbach @JamieUmbach EdmontonOilers.comSAN JOSE, CA – For how fast they started in the first period on Monday night in Vancouver, things fell apart just as quickly for the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of their three-game Pacific Division road trip.
The Oilers had complete control from the opening faceoff, outshooting the Canucks 14-2 in the first half of the opening frame when Mattias Ekholm lifted a power-play goal into the top shelf beyond netminder Thatcher Demko for his first of the season less than seven minutes into the contest.
But as been the case through their first 11 games, carrying that type of world-beating effort through the entirety of regulation – and periods, for that matter – proved to be a challenge for the Blue & Orange, who conceded three goals in 3:32 of the first frame to trail 3-1 after 20 minutes despite a 21-8 shot advantage.
“I looked at the start of that game and that's as dominant of the period of time as you'll see any two teams in the NHL play,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said after Wednesday's skate on campus at the University of British Columbia. “Now, the trick is to do it for longer and harder than the other team, for a full 60 minutes, and not let some things deflate you when they don't go your way.”
“Certainly looking up at the scoreboard and seeing 19 shots and four against and finding yourself down, that's not fun… it's time to put something together here. Players know that, they accept it, the coaches know it and accept it, and we're working our way towards finding two points tomorrow night."
Following Ekholm’s goal that came as part of Edmonton’s second power-play unit, special teams couldn’t come up with the big penalty kill or the important conversion with the man advantage that they needed.
The Oilers’ influence on the game was hampered by some familiar mistakes like gaps in defensive coverage, allowing too many high-danger scoring chances and their netminders struggling to make the save they needed at a crucial time.
Beyond Sam Gagner, who’s posted two goals and an assist in three games since signing a one-year NHL contract to return to the Oilers, no member of the bottom six has found the back of the net after the club had 11 forwards eclipse the 10-goal mark last season (Warren Foegele and Derek Ryan with 13; Klim Kostin and Ryan McLeod with 11; Mattias Janmark with 10).
That lack of scoring extends to the top of the lineup, where Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have produced points but not at the clip they’ve been accustomed to over the last handful of seasons.
This is the first time since November 13, 2017 that both McDavid (T-73rd) & Draisaitl (T-18th) rank outside the NHL’s Top 15 in points, and the first time that McDavid has been outside the Top 50 since the end of the 2015-16 season after he reached the dizzy heights of 153 points (64G, 89A) in all 82 games for the Oilers last year.
A combined .861 save percentage from Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell in between the pipes this season hasn’t been up to par for the Blue & Orange, and the Oilers management staff felt that change was necessary.
On Tuesday, Campbell was placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the Bakersfield Condors, which to the players in the locker room was a reflection on their entire teams’ defensive play in front of their netminders.
“I think collectively as a team, we haven't put Stu and Jack in a position to be the best of their abilities,” Hyman said. “And obviously, they have to make their saves too, but I think as a group we can do a much better job of helping them out.”
"Have there been some goals he's maybe want to have back? Sure, but there's been a ton of plays as a group we could have back," Kane added.
"I think as a group it's a wake-up call for us, and I know he wants to get back here. I know we want him back here and we've got to start performing."
The Oilers assigned Campbell on Wednesday afternoon and recalled goalie Calvin Pickard from the Condors, who’s accrued 116 games of NHL experience with Colorado, Toronto, Philadelphia, Arizona and Detroit.
The 31-year-old has started the AHL season strongly with a 2.03 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and a 2-2-0 record in Bakersfield and will hope to provide Edmonton with some stability in the blue paint alongside Skinner while Campbell works on his game in the minors.
“For Picks to come up, it's a great opportunity for him,” Woodcroft said. "He has NHL experience, but I would say it's an opportunity for Jack Campbell too. He and I talked about this yesterday. It's an opportunity for him to go play a lot, refine some aspects of his game, get back to feeling confident and we'll see where he ends up. But we're painting this as a positive for Jack and certainly, for Picks to earn the recall, that's good on him as well.”
The Oilers will dive into the Shark Tank of SAP Center on Thursday night with an opportunity to correct their errors and earn some confidence against a San Jose team they’ve defeated eight times in a row dating back to Feb. 14, 2022, but the struggling Sharks (1-10-1) are coming off their first victory of the season on Tuesday after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers.
The players and coaches continued to put in the work needed to lift themselves out of an early-season slump at Wednesday's practice at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the campus of the University of British Columbia, knowing that a breakthrough is on the horizon if they stay with it and continue to chip away.
“Whether it's individual performances or collectively as a team, everything averages out as long as you continue to put in the work,” Zach Hyman said. “You have to show up and you have to play at your best in order for that to happen, so we're looking to do that tomorrow.”
“I think we as a group need to just focus on the next game,” Evander Kane added. “We can't control our record and what it is, but what we can control is what our record looks like moving forward.
“We’ve got a great opportunity tomorrow night against a team who got their first win a few nights ago and hopefully, we can use it to our advantage."
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