Fifty shots against and a 4-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche that should have been far worse.
With Adam Larsson tossed out of the game, Kris Russell hurt for a period, and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl having a rare ineffective night, this was one of those games where you just get on the plane and focus on the next one, right?
Yeah, not so fast…
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“I don’t think there’s an excuse, really. We could have played smarter,” said Jujhar Khaira, the Oilers’ only goal scorer. “In those situations we have to figure out a way to play smarter not harder. Those are excuses, and we don’t want excuses in here.”
The Oilers, smoked Colorado by a 6-2 score in Edmonton just two weeks before, and the Avalanche played like a team that hadn’t forgotten. They were better, while the Oilers penalty killers (perfect in five attempts) and goaltender Mikko Koskinen (46 saves) were the only reason this one wasn’t decided by the 30-minute mark.
Edmonton was outshot 36-7 in the final 40 minutes, and clung to a 1-1 tie through two periods before the Avs blew it wide open. Still, Edmonton goes 3-2 on their five-game road trip, winning three of their four divisional games, and cap the opening one-third of the season with a 16-8-3 mark.
They have two days off now before a home-and-home against Vancouver this weekend.
The Big Takeaway
There were a lot of built in excuses here, none of which are flying with head coach Dave Tippett. Where you and I saw a blowout, effected by an egregious call on Larsson, Tippett saw a team that imploded the way the old Oilers used to.
By making mental errors.
“We killed that (Larsson) penalty, and a two-minute 5-on-3,” Tippett told reporters in Denver. “You’d think we’d play smart after that and get some momentum. No, we gave the game away.
“If you just do some smart things, you can find a way to get a point or two. It was too bad. Other than the goaltending and the penalty kill, it was unacceptable from out group.”
We are learning that Tippett has some leniency for a tired player or a worn down team, but will not put up with dumb hockey. He expects his players to fall back on smart systems play when they find themselves up against a tornado like the Avalanche was on Wednesday night.
Play hard if you can. But always play smart.
“The hard doesn’t bother me as much as the smart,” he said. “You’ve got to be smart, hang around a game, and find a way to get points. When your goaltender plays like that and you don’t play smart enough to hang around the game and get points, it’s very disappointing.”
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Quick Hits
Look, we get it. Hockey is changing, and you can’t do or say a lot of things we used to think were OK. Change is good.
But does that mean an elbow in the chin turns into a five-minute major and a game misconduct? Is that where we are now?
What’s next? Hooking majors?
Adam Larsson put an elbow into the chops of an oncoming T.J. Tynan, definitely an elbowing penalty. Outside chance it’s a double-minor. “It’s a border-line five-minute (penalty) but that’s what they gave him,” said Tippett.
The Oilers lost Larsson at the 2:45 mark of the second period, and then had to kill the major penalty. Inside of that was a well-deserved tripping penalty to Draisaitl, which they also killed.
At the same time they lost winger Alex Chiasson, who wobbled off the ice after being crushed on a clean check by Ryan Graves. That’s what was so weird: referees usually over react to a hit that appears to concuss a player, not a piddly elbow from which the recipient isn’t injured.
Strange as it was, it left the Oilers with 16 skaters for almost two-thirds of this game.
What’s Next
A home and home with the Vancouver Canucks is up next, beginning Saturday in Edmonton and then Sunday on the coast. The Oilers should be rested for the opener after two days off, while for the Canucks it marks the end of a six-game road trip — on which they’ve gone 2-3 thus far. Then the second end of a back to back is the Canucks’ first game home after 13 days on the road, a game that challenges every Pacific Division team.
This particular home and home has opportunity written all over it for Edmonton.
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