So far this season the Vegas Golden Knights have the Edmonton Oilers number.
And, unfortunately for the Oilers Tuesday, that number was zero.
On a night when so many things went right and the resurgent Oilers looked very much like a strong playoff team, the one thing that went wrong is the one thing they’re supposed to be famous for.
Scoring.
An offence that started poorly but had been chugging along nicely over the last five games (4-1 with 22 goals) stalled again at just the wrong time in a measuring stick game against the team they’re trying to catch in the standings.
The defence and the goaltending were on point (one goal against on just 16 shots) but the points didn’t come.
WHIFF IT GOOD
It’s tough when you play well enough to win 4-1 and you end up losing 1-0, but that’s the reality Edmonton’s forwards have to swallow after Tuesday night’s loss.
The guys who are paid to score — from first line to fourth — let one get away.
“We created enough to win the game, for sure,” said Leon Draisaitl, who finished with one shot on net in 21:46 of five-on-five ice time. “We were maybe not as sharp in front of the net and their goalie was obviously seeing it so it was a little bit of both.”
And a lot of nothing. Despite outshooting Vegas 16-2 in the third period the Oilers couldn’t find the tying goal.
“We were going, we were pressing,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “We spent almost all of the third period in their zone trying to get looks, trying to get shots through, trying to create some offence.
“We had some looks but obviously we have to score goals to win games. We know we have a lot of offensive guys who can score goals so it’s on us to find ways to do it. Unfortunately tonight their goaltender got the best of us.”
LOSS VEGAS
In two games against Vegas this season the Oilers are 0-2 with two goals. They’ve been shut out and they’ve given up three goals in the last 10 minutes of the third period to lose 4-2 on home ice.
So they have to iron a few things out against these guys before they meet, hopefully, in the playoffs.
“We’ve played this team a bunch over the years, we know how they play,” said Ekholm. “When they’re on their game it’s hard to generate a lot of offence. It feels like you’re in their zone a lot but you’re mostly on the perimeter. But I do think we had some good looks and we had some chances.
“We’ll have to learn from this game because I’m sure we’ll see these guys again.”
THESE THINGS HAPPEN
It was a tough turnover from Draisaitl that led to Ivan Barbashev’s game winner in the first period. The Oilers leading scorer played the risk-reward game at the offensive blue line, trying a between-the-legs touch pass, but it went awry, leading to a two-one-one and the winning goal.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events, but head coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t ready to dump on one of his best players for trying to make something happen. He says you have to accept these kinds of things with creative, productive players.
“It’s a play that I’ve seen executed many times,” said Knoblauch. “If that redirection is another foot in another area we probably have a good quality shot.
“It’s probably one he wants back but it happens.”
For every 10 or 15 plays that a Draisaitl or McDavid pulls off, there is going to be one that winds up going the other way. That’s the life cycle of a superstar.
“Sometimes you have to accept that mistakes are going to happen,” said Knoblauch. “There was a mistake on that goal but with the amount of opportunities he creates, it’s not always going to be perfect. There are going to be mistakes.
“If you have players never making mistakes they’re probably never creating much. And if there are mistakes happening with players who aren’t creating much then you’ve got a big problem.”
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