A New Phase Begins
October 14, 2023
Oil Kings losing streak reaches five games
October 16, 2023Smacked
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 31: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) on the bench during the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Edmonton Oilers on December 31, 2021 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
October 14, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg
Wednesday’s season opener was horrific for the Edmonton Oilers. The Vancouver Canucks beat them 8-1. It was a home opener for the Canucks, and they unveiled Quinn Hughes as their new team captain in a pregame ceremony featuring former Canucks captains Henrik Sedin, Trevor Linden, Stan Smyl, and Orland Kurtenbach.
Maybe it was just the Canucks’ night; but the performance was simply not good enough from the Oilers’ perspective. The Oilers are widely considered as a Stanley Cup favourite this season. If they’re not the favourite, then they’re a legitimate contender at the very least. They arrived in Edmonton on September 5, 2023 for captain’s skates. That was fifteen days before the start of training camp. They were saying all the right things about how focussed and determined they are this season. To say that the team coming out with a thunderous thud the way they did on Wednesday was a complete disappointment.
As everyone in every interview has said since Wednesday’s loss, the effort wasn’t good enough. It happened. It’s in the past. They will learn from it and move past it. All they can control is their response.
It’s not just about Saturday’s home opener in my opinion. There will be an obvious increase in the effort level on Saturday night. I’m watching to see if they can shake this embarrassment of a loss off and place themselves at or near the top of the league standings early in the season.
Related: 2023-24 NHL standings predictions
Ryan Rishaug of TSN asked Leon Draisaitl whether he thinks it’s almost better to have a lopsided loss like Wednesday’s loss early in the season rather than having a less dramatic “lack-luster” effort, and this is what Draisaitl said:
“…sometimes you need those moments, you know, you need games like that. Obviously, we didn’t want that to happen, no doubt about it; but it did and we’ll learn from it and we’ll move on… sometimes it’s good to get smacked a little bit and get back to working and do the little things.”
I would rather have the team get smacked hard across the face in game one than have the complacency slowly reveal itself over time leading to a losing streak. Nip that in the bud. Being brought back down to Earth and realizing that they still need to work hard for their success is the second best thing that could happen to them, aside from just having the success right away.
Their first chance to respond will come on Saturday night when the Oilers complete their home and home series with the Canucks at Rogers Place. Stuart Skinner will get the start in goal. Skinner and Jack Campbell each allowed four goals on sixteen shots against in Wednesday’s game. I didn’t think that Skinner did anything to earn the net back from Campbell in that game. The coaching staff might have pre planned these two starts to open the season though.
Adam Erne will make his Oilers debut, and Mattias Ekholm will make his season debut after missing all of the preseason with a hip flexor injury. Daniel Nugent-Bowman suggested that Vincent Desharnais will be the likely healthy scratch in this game, which means that one of Brett Kulak or Philip Broberg will play on the right side.
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