The Edmonton Oilers are the Stanley Cup favorite in seemingly everyone’s mind, but you wouldn’t know it from watching their season opener on Wednesday night. After a relatively solid start to the game in which they were outshooting the Winnipeg Jets 9-4, things quickly went south and saw them fall 6-0. In a way, one could argue the Oilers were suffering from jet lag, in more ways than one.
It’s far too soon to panic in Edmonton, but with that said, this team will need to dig deep and come up with some much better efforts moving forward. Starting the way they did last season cannot happen again, and everyone in that room is well aware of it. With that said, here are the three main takeaways from tonight’s disappointing outing.
Struggles from Oilers’ Preseason Continue
It generally isn’t fair to judge a team based on preseason play, but anyone who watched the Oilers during their eight exhibition outings would tell you they weren’t nearly good enough. That continued to be the case right until the end, as they lost their final two games to the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks while being outscored by a combined 10-3.
Their lack of attention to detail was evident all evening long. Despite not giving up many shots, they gave up a ton of high-quality scoring chances due to some uncharacteristic plays. This can be chalked up to rustiness given that it’s their first game playing with this exact group, but fans won’t let it fly for much longer.
Jets Had Skinner’s Number Early
Early into this one, it looked as though it was going to be a great start for Stuart Skinner, who made a few big saves, including a breakaway stop on Mark Scheifele. Things changed from there, however, as he allowed two goals less than four minutes apart right before the end of the first, and it didn’t get any better from there. He allowed three more before the midway point of the second period, which spelled the end of his night.
The box score is downright ugly, as Skinner finished his night having allowed five goals on 13 shots for a .615 save percentage (SV%). That said, it isn’t fair whatsoever to blame this on him, as the team in front of him didn’t do any favors. He needs to be much better going forward, but the same can be said for every player who dressed tonight, even if their stat lines don’t look as ugly.
Knoblauch Not Wasting Time in Season Opener
One thing many fans noticed right away was that head coach Kris Knoblauch switched up his lines early and wound up pairing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together. We’ve witnessed this from Knoblauch and other Oilers coaches when this team is struggling, but having it come in the opening game was a surprise.
What it goes to show is that Knoblauch isn’t looking at this game as being of little importance despite it coming so early into the season. That may wind up being a good thing, as it will send a message to the rest of the group that despite expectations, they can’t afford to start slow.
Looking Ahead for the Oilers
The Oilers have two games remaining on their schedule this week, and they will come in a back-to-back set. They will first take on Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, before battling one out with their provincial rival Calgary Flames. Both teams are expected to struggle this season, giving the Oilers a good opportunity to put a couple of ticks in the win column.
