EDMONTON — The Elephant in the Edmonton Oilers†room is a man of few words. And his teammates, they say even less, delicately skating around his name while trying to explain how another game went south.
“Turnovers kind of turned the game a little bit. We have to clean that up,†Leon Draisaitl hemmed and hawed moments earlier, when asked to explain an Oilers implosion that saw a 3-1, third-period lead evaporate into a 4-3 overtime loss. “Self-inflicted mistakes, thatâ€s all it is. Itâ€s nothing magical that the other teams are doing. Weâ€re just beating ourselves right now. Itâ€s something we have to clean up.â€
Were the New York Rangers forced to work hard enough for most of their goals on this night?
“Like I said three times now, turnovers turned the game,†said an impatient Draisaitl. “So, no.â€
Weâ€ve been in enough dressing rooms and talked to enough NHL players to know, a teammate never calls out a teammate. Not in a functional, well-run dressing room like the one the Oilers have built.
So they talk without naming names, critiquing their “collective†game without digging in on individuals.
Across the room, Darnell Nurse — who head coach Kris Knoblauch sat on the bench for the first five minutes of the second period on Tuesday, after Nurse had a brutal first period against Utah — was doing his best to explain the loss as well.
Itâ€s like a weird game of hockey charades, where everyone is talking about something but no one is allowed to actually say the operative word (or words).
“To grab your game back, you just get back to being simple,†said Nurse, offering a tangential take on why The Elephant keeps giving pucks away — costing his team goals and games — this season. “I think sometimes when youâ€re forcing the plays, you think the next one is going to get through, and thatâ€s been the case a little bit.
“When weâ€re losing momentum and you feel the other team coming, itâ€s about simplifying your game and getting back to the hard work.â€
The Elephant opened this night with a misguided D-to-D pass along the offensive blue-line, that the Rangers†Jonny Brodzinski pounced on like a defensive back on a hitch pass, taking the puck to the endzone on Stuart Skinner for a 1-0 lead.
But that moment was forgotten by midway through Period 3, with the Oilers holding on to a 3-2 lead as The Elephant gathered a puck high in his own zone and tried to execute a common dump-out.
The puck was knocked down by Connor Sheary, who gave it to Taylor Raddysh, who wired a shot past Skinner to tie the game.
“Obviously itâ€s happening a little more,†The Elephant said. “That second turnover that led to a goal, I didnâ€t really try to make a play. Itâ€s off a stick and in the back of our net. Thatâ€s definitely got to get cleaned up. Playing harder is going to have to be something that I do.â€
The Elephant, of course, is the Oilers†highest-paid defenceman, Evan Bouchard. Moments later he would be slow to switch coverage on New Yorkâ€s overtime winner, a hat trick of sketchy defensive plays that left Bouchard at minus-3 on the night, and a team worst minus-9 in 12 games this season.
“With Evan, sometimes your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness,†began Knoblauch. “You have a great talent of making passes and feeling confident that you can do that. But when it’s not working, it’s costing chances against.â€
Would he ever consider sitting Bouchard, the way he had Nurse the previous game?
“We have to hold all our players accountable,†Knoblauch declared. “There’s a fine line on mistakes that periodically happen, because no player is going to play a perfect game. There’s always going to be a mistake.
“But if there’s an accumulation of mistakes that are costing us regularly, then yes, we need to hold everyone accountable.â€
Weâ€re going to turn this one around, and hold Knoblauch accountable here. We donâ€t see Bouchard being held accountable, in any way thatâ€s visible — or recorded on a game sheet.
On as bad a night as a professional player could possibly have, a minus-3 debacle on Long Island two weeks ago, Bouchard still led all Oilers defencemen with 24:19 of ice time. Two nights later he led the entire team with 25:31 of ice time.
On Thursday against the Rangers, Bouchard made his first egregious error 5:44 into the game. He made the next with eight minutes to play in the third.
But there he was, on the ice in OT with Connor McDavid and Draisaitl, making the wrong read and holding the door open for J.T. Miller to walk through the slot and win the game untouched.
The final game sheet read 22:34 of ice time, the most of any Oilers defenceman.
Accountability? Sorry Kris, thatâ€s not accountability.
Weâ€re 12 games into the season, and weâ€re not sure Bouchard has had six solid periods yet.
They need him, we get it. And heâ€s always been there when the games get important in April and May.
But for now, The Elephant has his teammates dancing around the obvious — their highest-paid defenceman is killing them, and he could stop any time.
Then, perhaps they could begin to speak his name again.
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