They might not admit just how much, but the Edmonton Oilers are more than a little frustrated.
One month into a season that comes on the heels of finishing on the wrong side of the determining goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, this star-studded roster that should have come out of the barrel at full ferocious velocity looks more like a dud.
Sure, they showed they can win games against lesser opponents, but to be a contender, you have to be able to beat the contenders. And the Oilers can’t even pretend to be at that level right now, sitting on a 6-7-1 record
Granted, it’s better than the 4-9-1 mark they were at a year ago, one game into Kris Knoblauch’s short but impressive tenure as Oilers head coach. But not by much as the new bench boss is finding out what it feels like to walk in the shoes of his predecessor, Jay Woodcroft.
Now, nobody’s suggesting Knoblauch’s job in the same sort of danger, given the remarkable turnaround the team was able to achieve with the belief that there is almost no adversity that can’t be overcome. But that doesn’t make him any less desperate to find an answer to this season’s struggles.
They can’t score like before (tied for 29th in the NHL). They have trouble keeping the puck out of their net (27th with a minus-12 goal differential), especially at the most inopportune times. And at the rate things are going, they are going to have to find another title for their ‘special’ teams, because the power play and penalty kill are anything but.
It’s not like they can’t do it. This is the same core group that proved time and time again last year it has the ability to bounce back from anything.
It’s just that this time around, they haven’t been able to do it. Not yet, anyway. And not with nearly the consistency it takes to compete with the contenders.
Just look at their last outing, when they had the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights by the scruff of the neck, leading 2-1 heading into the third period, only to cough up three unanswered goals in yet another disappointing result.
But as the losses add up to leave the Oilers looking further and further up the standings, it’s growing beyond disappointment. And it’s leading to mistakes — the kind that can quickly turn into a downward spiral.
Nuge blunder leads to big goal
Case in point, take Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
As the longest-serving player in the dressing room, he is looked upon to lead by example alongside the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and has thrived throughout his career as a dependable jack-of-all trades who can play anywhere required.
The thing is, Nugent-Hopkins’ name doesn’t appear next to theirs at the top of the list in team scoring. You’d have to look all the way down in seventh place, where he is tied with fellow snake-bitten forward Zach Hyman, with just five points on the season.
His lone goal in 14 games has come on 5-on-5. But he hasn’t been able to find any traction in his other roles on both the top power-play and top penalty-kill units.
Bottom line, he’s part of the overall problem, one that got exasperated last game with an ill-advised, if not completely bone-headed holding penalty against Golden Knights defenceman Shea Theodore.
Nugent-Hopkins, who barely even knows the way to the penalty box (it was just his second of the season), grabbed a mittful of jersey in the offensive zone right in front of the official.
Unnecessary.
Untimely.
Unintelligent.
And completely unlike him in the slightest.
But as minor of an infraction, as it was, it had major consequences, as mistakes tend to do when times are tough.
It led to Noah Nanifin scoring on the power play to tie the score before adding the game-winner in a span of nine minutes to put the Oilers away, But not before their last-place penalty kill fell to under 60 per cent success on the season.
Less pretending, more contending
At even strength, Nugent-Hopkins spent the game in a curious place on the third line, playing centre like he had been the previous three games on the top line with Connor McDavid out with an ankle injury.
And with McDavid making his return against Vegas, Knoblauch decided to keep Nugent-Hopkins in the middle, and leap-frogging him past Draisaitl on the second line.
The experiment was short-lived, however, as Nugent-Hopkins was back in his regular role on McDavid’s left wing in practice prior to flying to the west coast to face the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (8 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet).
While he’s far from the only one reeling as the Oilers continue to stumble out of the gates this year, Nugent-Hopkins needs to start showing he has just as much veteran intuitiveness, skill, and know-how to help his team turn things around just as quickly.
In other words, less pretending. More contending.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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