The Edmonton Oilers have crawled out of the bottom third of the National Hockey League, and in fact stand 10th in league standings this morning. It’s ground well travelled for a franchise that’s made four No. 1 overall draft picks since 2010, though you might say, “It’s about time.”
One problem though: The Oilers won’t get much higher if they can’t figure out how to beat the NHL’s other top 10 clubs.
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The latest setback came at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. In what stood as a chance to move past San Jose at the top of the Pacific Division standings, the Oilers instead took a front-row seat for the Martin Jones Show, as the Sharks goalie starred in a 5-3 San Jose win.
The loss leaves Edmonton’s record against the NHL’s top 10 teams at a pedestrian 3-7-3.
“It’s not good enough,” said defenceman Oscar Klefbom. “These are the teams we need to take some points from. Especially here at Rogers [Place].”
This really should have been a throwback, 6-5 win for someone, but Jones was absolutely fantastic in the Sharks net. He stopped 33 shots, many of which were Grade A chances. Pat Maroon had six shots on net himself, directing 10 at the San Jose goal.
“We have to bury some of those opportunities,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “We’re looking at open nets in some cases and we didn’t have the finishing touch.”
McLellan had challenged his dormant three alternate captains by putting them together on the second line, and the trio rewarded the coach with a pair of assists but no goals. Jordan Eberle (one goal in his past 22 games), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (on pace for less than 40 points) and Milan Lucic started the game slowly and could not catch up.
“Too slow out of the gate, too slow for 25 minutes of the game,” McLellan said of his club. “Not really ready to go, too slow, turnovers, no execution early in the game and then put your foot on the gas and go after a team.
“In this case we gave up five instead of four. We’re not going to win like that.”
Mikkel Boedker, whose three goals and nine points coming into Tuesday had him demoted to the Sharks’ fourth line, scored a hat trick. Logan Couture scored the Sharks fifth goal by inadvertently kicking in his own rebound on a breakaway, a goal that rightly stood up as the 5-3 insurance marker but was as fluky as the day is long.
Even still, Oilers goalie Cam Talbot fitted himself for the goat horns. He took full blame for allowing a loss in the opener of a crucial six-game homestand, one the Oilers are hoping will give them some breathing room out West.
“I needed to be better,” said the NHL’s busiest goalie this season. “If I play the way I’ve been playing, we win that hockey game.
“Three [Oilers goals are] enough,” he declared. “Jones made some good saves, but it’s my job to give us a chance to win, and I didn’t do my job today.”
Edmonton has survived by far the toughest part of its season schedule in the first half, and now reaps the benefit of some nicely spaced home games in January. The problem? The Oilers are a stout 12-7-5 on the road, but only 9-8-2 at Rogers Place.
“I thought we played well against a very good team,” said Sharks defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Well, a good team anyhow.
Very good? The Oilers aren’t quite there yet.
