EDMONTON — After 10 years out of the playoffs, and not even 10 weeks of success in the 2016-17 season, there is no way the Edmonton Oilers are getting satisfied after a few weeks atop the Pacific Division.
In fact, the erosion has been steady, with Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Toronto marking Edmonton’s 11th loss in its past 16 games. But this much is clear: as the Toronto Maple Leafs walked out of Rogers Place with the two points, Edmonton looked nothing like a National Hockey League team hungry to stop a losing streak.
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“You look at all four of their goals and they are all from the hash marks in. Right in front of the net,” groused winger Milan Lucic. “Guys standing in front of the net all by themselves or a two-on-none right in front of the net.
“We have to get back to cleaning our game up in the D-zone.”
No matter how many new players the Oilers bring in, inevitably their DNA still produces games like this one. Games where they go “full Oilers” in the defensive zone, with missed assignments and wide open opponents standing in prime real estate in front of the net.
“Overall, you look at the quality chances and we probably out-chanced them,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “They just had some real quality ones that we can’t give up.”
Toronto only had 23 shots on net, and not an inordinate amount of scoring chances. But the ones the Leafs had were of such a high pedigree, they could barely be missed:
• The game opened with Adam Larsson, Edmonton’s best defenceman, losing Auston Matthews on a rush to the net. He buried a pass from the doorstep, the 13th time in 24 games Edmonton gave up a game-opening goal.
• In the second period James van Riemsdyk stood all alone atop the blue paint and had two whacks at a puck, still untouched as he scored his 10th of the season.
• On the third goal, a puck in full Oilers possession in the corner was somehow transitioned into a Maple Leafs’ two-on-zero in front of a helpless Cam Talbot.
“The difference between the two teams tonight was, they valued checking. It was really important to them. We neglected it,” spat Edmonton head coach Todd McLellan. “The team that values it wins the game. The team that checks better eventually wins the game, and they did.”
Outworked, out-hustled, outplayed and outscored, the Oilers had more passengers than a 747 jet in losing their third straight game — all to teams in the bottom third of the NHL standings.
“We’ll look at our lineup for sure,” said McLellan, with Thursday’s date in Winnipeg in mind. “It’s OK to not score sometimes. But it’s not OK to neglect your responsibilities defensively. That’s how I look at some of our guys right now.”
Which guys? Here are some candidates:
• Nugent-Hopkins has one even-strength goal in 24 games this season. The first overall pick makes $6 million to be more than a checker, and his ineffective offensive game is crippling for the Oilers’ depth scoring.
• Benoit Pouliot is a guy who might help pull Nugent-Hopkins out of his slump. Alas, he has one assist … wait for it … all season. Pouliot is closer to a buyout than the first line right now, all for the tidy sum of $4 million per for two more seasons after this one.
• Jesse Puljujarvi is the youngest player in the NHL, sure, but he also has just one goal. Fans here want him to replace Jordan Eberle on the top power-play unit, and the refusal to do so is getting harder and harder to justify. On the other hand, he has not been effective, which makes a promotion difficult.
Whoever plays with Connor McDavid — who had a goal and an assist to stay atop the NHL’s scoring list — is productive. That includes Lucic, who upped his totals to 7-10-17 in 24 games Tuesday.
As for the rest of this club, putting together a string of properly played defensive efforts remains a struggle.
“The frustration level gets high when offensive opportunities aren’t going in the net,” said fourth-line winger Matt Hendricks. “Then you kind of forget about what you’re supposed to be doing down at your own end. You have those mental lapses, and you give players like that those Grade A chances and they’re going to score.
“When we broke down, it was a big break down.”
