If you had to sum up the whole season of the Edmonton Oilers in just four games, it would be this trip they took.
Their week-long journey through Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas, and St. Louis showed everything — exciting victories, tough losses, wild changes in emotions, and by the end, you still don’t quite know what to think about them.
They appeared strong while defeating Vegas (4-2) and Colorado (4-3), managing to keep the other team from scoring more than three goals for just the third and fourth time in the past 14 games.
But just when it seemed like they were getting better, they got crushed 7-2 in Dallas, where they seemed to forget everything they had learned. The defense was bad. The goaltending was bad. And even as they were losing badly, Connor McDavid had to step up and show some toughness.
After 67 games and three games into the trip, people were still unsure about this team.
Friday’s game in St. Louis was expected to clear things up, right? Wrong. It only made things messier.
For 52 solid minutes, the Oilers played tightly, showing good playoff hockey and took a 2-0 lead as they came back home. It was a strong road game, done in the exact way they need to keep playing moving forward.
Then, out of nowhere! They gave up two goals in the last 7 minutes and 38 seconds and lost 3-2 in the final moments of overtime.
Honestly, what do you think about these guys?
“I really don’t know, it’s such a disappointment,” said winger Kasperi Kapanen, still in shock from what just happened. “We played really well the whole game. ”
“Teams will try harder if we are ahead; we just need to figure out how to keep our lead. I really hope that the one extra point we missed today doesn’t hurt us in the future. ”
With the single point they earned, the Oilers are currently in third place in the Pacific Division, which is 19th overall, as they head back home for four games in just seven nights at Rogers Place. There are teams close behind them with more games to play, so they need to stay focused and not take anything for granted.
The problems with their consistency that they have faced all season don’t seem to be improving. While the Oilers were outshooting St. Louis 10-1 during the second period, Kapanen scored at 15:41, which made it look like they had the win secured. McDavid scored just ten minutes into the third period, adding to their lead.
It could hardly have gone any better.
“I think we did really well in the first 40 minutes,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We had a solid lead in the third period. But then they scored, and maybe we got a little tense and played defensively. ”
“That’s too bad. It could have been a fantastic end to the road trip, getting three out of four points. Only getting one point in the last two games is a letdown for us.”
Looking at the teams they faced, a record of 2-1-1 isn’t too bad. That’s one way to see it. However, the other side is that they just lost 7-2 after having a 2-0 lead in the third period.
“The bright side is that we played some really good hockey at times,” Knoblauch said. “The first two games of this road trip were very good. The game against Dallas? Not so much. Most of tonight’s game was alright, but not everything was great. ”
No matter how you view it, that’s how the Oilers are. Just when you think you have figured them out, they surprise you again.
“It’s pretty rough at the moment, but we need to let this go and keep going,” Kapanen mentioned. “Overall, this journey has been a good experience. Of course, we really wanted to get two points today, and our game in Dallas wasn’t our best effort, but it’s definitely better than what we have been doing recently. “
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