EDMONTON — Organized? Structured? Hard to play against?
Those were the slogans that accompanied Mike Babcock to Edmonton. In his first game behind the Oilers’ bench, however, Babcock’s team displayed exactly zero of those attributes in a thrilling 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
“We turned the puck over. We stayed out too long on the ice. We made poor decisions,” began Babcock after a game that required a late, three-goal comeback just to secure a single point for Edmonton. “I mean, we gave up six tonight. I think we gave up five in exhibition (in four games).
“If we want to work, we want to do things right, we're going to have a lot of success. If we want to play like that, we're going to be chasing the game. To be honest with you, I feel fortunate we got a point.”
That point came on the back of Evan Bouchard’s five-point night. He had a hat trick and two helpers, becoming the first NHL defenceman with a season-opening hat trick since Mark Howe of the Hartford Whalers, way back in 1980.
Amazingly, the three goals came sans the Bouch Bomb, three wristers that all found their way past Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen.
“It was one of those nights,” Bouchard said. “But without those guys in front none of them were going in. (Zach Hyman) was battling, (Vasily Podkolzin) is always battling in front. Without those guys they wouldn’t have went in.”
Speaking of going in, let’s talk about Tristan Jarrry’s game.
The returning Edmonton goalie who was supposed to give the Oilers a bounce-back season laid an egg in the opener. There was almost zero big saves, and simply no feeling that his team could get away with a mistake that wouldn’t end up in the back of its net.
Jarry let in a soft, soft goal that broke a 2-2 tie just 70 seconds int the critical third period, and before you knew it the score was 5-2 Canucks. Though he faced some very high quality scoring chances, Jarry didn’t give his team a big save until overtime.
Between the goaltending and the defensive play, this Oilers team looked no different than the last seven or eight editions. Loose, with lousy netminding.
It’s no recipe for success.
“I need one or two of those,” Jarry admitted post-game. “You never want to get scored on. Obviously the goalie has the biggest outcome of the game and when he has those slips or those downs in a game, it makes for a (bad) game.”
What did Babcock think of his new goalie?
“It's pretty clear,” said Babcock. “Let's move on.”
Babcock understandably did not want to get too personal after Game 1 of an 84-game campaign. So he spoke about his team play instead.
“The hard part is we have to play way better. That was ridiculous,” spat the coach. “You can't have a guy with five points and lose the hockey game. It just doesn't make any sense.”
Podkolzin scored twice against the club that drafted him 10th overall, the second one a rocket that forced overtime with just 42.5 seconds left in the third period.
There was a time when the Oilers were thrilled with a game like this, but that time has passed. This season was supposed to be about defensive responsibility, limiting chances, and responsible play.
Then the 32nd-place team walks into your barn on Opening Night and scores six on you.
Yikes!
“We can talk about these guys and talent, but we have to do things right as a group,” said a disgusted head coach. “Tonight, while it looked like we were trending in the right direction … the great thing about the National Hockey League is if you don't do it right, you feel bad when you leave the rink.”
Folks in Edmonton have watched a version of this game for years. This was Babcock’s first screening.
Did he know what he was getting into when he took the gig?
“Not for one second did I think this was going to be easy,” he promised. “Tonight was an indication we have serious work to do. Playing like that, getting away from the way we have to play, is unacceptable for us. We have to set a better standard for ourselves.”
Call it a base line.
This is what the Oilers are today, a loose team that talks a good game about responsible play. But when it doesn’t go their way quickly enough, they devolve into a run ‘n’ gun, firewagon group that entertains on a Saturday night in October, but can’t get it done in June.
Let’s see where it goes, and how fast it changes, if at all.
They’ll reconvene in Vancouver on Thursday night.
Spec’s checks
Alex Formenton got the push up to the top line when Babcock split Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl onto separate lines, playing on the left side with McDavid and Hyman. Podkolzin, Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen formed the second line. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ injury at Monday’s practice threw Babcock’s training camp lines into the blender.
