EDMONTON — Excuses.
That’s what weâ€re hearing from an Edmonton Oilers team that lost by eight on a Saturday night at home. A team that quit after its goalie let in a softie at 2-0, curled up in a ball and watched the Avs score seven more goals without so much as a roughing minor in response.
Like this one from Trent Frederic, whose impact since joining this team at the trade deadline last season has been less than microscopic.
“Iâ€m trying to check my way out of it,†offered Frederic, who was as quiet as a church mouse while the Avs had their way at Rogers Place.
He has one point and six PIMs this season. He doesnâ€t have a top-six forwardâ€s hands, or a bottom-six forwardâ€s attitude.
“The fighting stuff comes. You can only ask so many guys when you have one goal in 15 games, no one is going to fight you,†was Fredericâ€s excuse. “You want to do that and give your team a spark, but who wants to fight a guy who has one goal in 15 games? I wouldnâ€t.â€
Yeah, because usually fighters score 25.
Or winger Andrew Mangiapane, whose game was supposed to come with a little sandpaper.
Wasnâ€t he supposed to get under opponents†skin? Didnâ€t he use to be a guy that was hard to play against?
“Yeah, sure,†he said when asked if he needs to bring more of that. “Just going out there being tenacious, hard work. And if that comes, that comes.â€
The fighter wonâ€t fight until he scores enough goals. The pest is standing around waiting for his game to fall out of the sky.
“I don’t know if we’re just thinking that it’s going to come easy to us,†said defenceman Jake Walman, who has developed a serious pinching issue this season. “So it just starts there, right? Everyone just buying in and just bringing that intensity, whatever that is for you. Each player is different.â€
This is the route the Oilers have taken to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. It starts slow, gets worse, and somewhere along the line, they hit rock bottom — usually at around this time of year.
“I definitely hope this is rock bottom for us,†said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “I hope this wakes up a lot of guys and we understand weâ€ve got a lot of growing to do to become a good hockey team.â€
Meanwhile, Stuart Skinnerâ€s save percentage is back down to .889, and what we witnessed on Saturday was a team that buckled when he allowed Cale Makarâ€s well-placed wrist shot to get past him 13:39 into the game. When a far less accurate shot from Makar — no traffic, perfect sightline, right under the blocker — eluded him 66 seconds later, Skinnerâ€s team quit in front of him.
Either they quit on him or they quit on themselves, but either way what we saw Saturday tells us they are done with this netminder as their unchallenged No. 1.
We asked Knoblauch if the Oilers skaters have lost belief in their goalie, and the long pause before answering did more talking than any of his ensuing word salad possibly could.
“I don’t believe so,†he said, before reciting a protective run of excuses for Skinnerâ€s game that weâ€ve been hearing for over a year now.
The amount of opposition goals being scored by unattended players right in front of the goalie is absurd, but two things can be true. What we saw Saturday tells us that GM Stan Bowman had better put a full-court press on the goaltending market, because his players have seen enough of Stuart Skinner as “The Guy.â€
“Weâ€re not really trending in the right direction, and they kicked our ass tonight,†Walman said. “To a guy, we owe it to everybody in here to figure out what our role is — what everybodyâ€s role on the team is — and do it.â€
Goalies need to make saves, defencemen need to defend, scorers need to score and depth forwards have to stop playing on the perimeter and take pucks to nets. Itâ€s starts there.
And the coaches? Theyâ€re slumping too.
When do we finally realize that the Oilers are a more difficult opponent when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl centre their own lines?
When will an Oilers coach stop falling into the trap of having a bench full of support guys who donâ€t even have a sweat going, while No. 97 and 29 play 24 minutes as the answer to every problem the Oilers face? Why on earth are they killing penalties, stealing more minutes from foot soldiers who play 10 minutes a game?
When is it fair to look at a fourth line built from three skill players with 49 NHL games between them — David Tomasek, Matt Savoie and Ike Howard — and wonder how a line devoid of size, grit and experience is supposed to fuel a Stanley Cup run from the four hole?
As the Edmonton radio guy called it, “Itâ€s the sort of performance where you get a clear indication of where youâ€re not at.â€
Either that, or it spoke volumes about what the Oilers have become.
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