The Edmonton Oilers played their worst game in nearly two months on Saturday (Feb. 10), falling 4-0 to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
Quinton Byfield scored two goals for the Kings, while his teammates Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor Lewis scored. L.A. netminder David Rittich stopped all 27 shots by the Oilers to record his first shutout in nearly three years.
After heading into the All-Star Break with a franchise-record 16 consecutive victories, the Oilers have fallen back to earth, going 1-2 this week since returning from a 10-day layoff between games.
Flaws that may have been overlooked during the Oilers’ remarkable winning streak have suddenly become exposed over their last three outings, which also includes a 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (Feb. 6) and a 5-3 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks on Friday (Feb. 9) in which Oilers forward Evander Kane recorded a hat trick. On Saturday, Edmonton’s issues were most apparent.
Oilers Making Habit of Playing From Behind
Over their 16 consecutive wins, Edmonton gave up the game’s first goal seven times and trailed after the second period on four occasions.
In just 48 games this season, Edmonton has already won 12 times after falling behind 1-0 and has had six victories when it started the third period trailing.
While it’s great the Oilers have shown tremendous resiliency and the ability to play from behind, constantly putting themselves in such situations is not a recipe for success.
Edmonton has allowed the first goal in each of its last two games, too. The Oilers were largely flat on Friday in Anaheim, trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. But against the woeful Ducks, Edmonton’s superior skill was enough to pull out a victory with three unanswered goals over the final 11:49 of the third period.
On Saturday, Los Angeles scored twice on Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner in a span of 49 seconds early in the second period to take a 2-0 lead, which was more than enough for an L.A. victory. This time, when the Oilers tried to flip the switch against a much stronger Kings team, they were backstopped by a goalie who was playing lights out. There wasn’t enough wattage for a comeback.
Oilers Can’t Always Rely on Luck
After falling behind 2-0 in the second period, the Oilers had a couple of chances to get on the board and perhaps swing the momentum of the game. The first instance saw Rittich absolutely rob Corey Perry, who is still looking for his first goal as an Oiler. The second saw Edmonton’s leading goal scorer, Zach Hyman, miss a wide-open net.
Those are the breaks, and when things are going great, all the bounces seem to go a team’s way. There were probably at least a couple of occasions during their 16 wins in a row that the Oilers were lucky to escape with a victory.
But championship contenders will also find a way to prevail during those tougher times when it seems luck is wearing the opposition’s colors. Edmonton is learning that this week.
“The first game against Vegas was probably our best game, we won the second game, and then tonight was probably a game that we were finding ways to win during that streak, and tonight it just wasn’t enough,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said while speaking to media following Saturday’s loss.
“A lot of credit to L.A., how they played, and definitely their goaltender played really well; We got shutout. But with the amount of chances we had, I thought we should have been able to put a few in.”
Oilers’ Depth Scoring Dries Up
Edmonton has just six goals in three games since the All-Star break, all of which have been scored by members of the top two forward lines, and only three of those tallies have come at five-on-five.
Before scoring five times on Friday, Edmonton had actually gone 11 games without scoring more than four goals. During their win streak, the Oilers became just the third team in NHL history to score fewer than five goals in 10 straight games and still manage to win all of them.
Related: Oilers’ Success During Win Streak Is Sustainable Over Long Term
That stat is a double-edged sword because while it’s critical that the Oilers are able to win by playing sound hockey rooted in an excellent defensive structure, as was often the case during their streak, there will be times when Edmonton needs to outscore the opposition. The depth scoring that has bolstered Edmonton at various points during this season has been missing lately; no player in the Oilers’ bottom six has scored over their last five games, and it’s now eight games without a goal from Edmonton’s blueline.
One of Oilers’ Weaker Performances
Saturday was the first time Edmonton gave up more than three goals since Dec. 16, its first game being shutout since Oct. 26, and just its second loss by more than three goals since being clobbered 8-1 in the season-opener by the Vancouver Canucks.
A couple of tough games are no call for panic, but the Oilers’ place in the standings does not afford them an extended slump, especially when the losses are coming against teams they are battling for playoff positions. Edmonton is currently third in the Pacific Division with 61 points, just three more than the fourth-place Kings, and now seven points back of second-place Vegas.
The Oilers would do well to learn from their poor performance on Saturday and apply it when they return to action on Tuesday (Feb. 13) with a home game against the Detroit Red Wings.
