EDMONTON — We are way past watching an Edmonton Oilers team that learns lessons against an opponent like the Boston Bruins.
Their school days were long ago. Those lessons, if they’re not learned already, they never will be.
Today, the lessons are gathered by those who watch. Not those who play.
“Who are these Oilers when they’re on against the NHL’s best team?”
“What does Ken Holland need to bring in to make the difference in a game like this?”
“As well as they played, Connor McDavid carried them on the score sheet — again …”
After a 3-2 game that was as evenly played as you could draw up, what IS the difference between a Bruins team that just chalked up its third seven-game winning streak of the season, and an Oilers team that’s hanging around a wild-card spot in the weak Pacific Division?
Because there surely is a difference, however scant it seemed on a Monday night in Edmonton.
“We can beat anybody,” began Oilers winger Zach Hyman. “We are a strong team. Tonight’s game was tight. I’m not sure what the chances were, but there weren’t many both ways.
“You don’t win every game you are in, obviously,” Hyman added. “We are at the point now where we are confident in the group we have got and we have to beat those teams.”
You can’t hang your head when you play the NHL’s best team to a virtual standstill. When you allow the Bruins only 21 even-strength shots, win 57 per cent of the faceoffs, and watch the game-winner go off Stuart Skinner’s stick, then Pavel Zacha’s stick, then Skinner’s stick again and up under the crossbar.
The good teams get their luck, and Boston got some on that late second-period goal.
“Winning is a skill, and they’ve obviously mastered it,” said McDavid, who notched his 49th and 50th goals. “It’s disappointing. They’re the best team in the league. I thought we played them hard and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
A chance? Undeniably.
But the third was scoreless, just as Boston would have it.
“You win games in the third period,” said Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman. “You understand that and you take pride in that. That’s something that you want to keep as an identity for our team and we just have a little bit more to give. We all know it and it’s pretty special when we see it.”
What was the difference?
Cashing in on chances was a huge part of it, with Kailer Yamamoto charting three shots on goal and four missed nets. He needs to produce to change the outcome in a game like this one — no question about that.
“We had a couple of looks that we didn’t capitalize on against a team that doesn’t give up much,” McDavid admitted. “Yams (Yamamoto) has a couple of looks. A couple of plays here and there and it’s a different game.”
The game-winner came at 19:30 of the second period, on a play where the Oilers could not clear the zone. Zacha got just far enough away from Cody Ceci to create something.
The lesson there?
Holland needs a defenceman who can shut down a cycle and clear out the net front on the final shift of a period. We’re not saying he would have necessarily been on the ice there, but that goal is a metaphor for what ails Edmonton:
Defensive posture. Net-front control. The ability to make the play that clears the zone.
Secondarily, the Oilers’ woes on right wing are long chronicled, with neither Yamamoto nor Jesse Puljujarvi able to be counted on to provide secondary offence. They need more from the right side, behind Hyman.
We’re not sure what will happen before Friday’s trading deadline, but the two primary itches that need scratching by Holland were on display in this game, to some degree overshadowing another McDavid master class.
“There is a reason he’s going to be the MVP this year,” Swayman said. “Unfortunately, I probably helped him a little bit with that tonight. We all know when he’s on the ice we want to take away his time and space, and he still finds it.
“It’s pretty special playing with a guy like that.”
This is McDavid’s first 50-goal season, erasing the one thing Leon Draisaitl had on his Oilers buddy.
What did Draisaitl say after the 50th goal?
“Welcome to the club,” McDavid said.
