Oilers lose sight of defensive aspirations in defeat to Canucks

EDMONTON — They’ve been speaking about targets towards and 5-on-5 play since Darnell Nurse informed us this in late December:

“5-on-5, clearly, we have now to get our targets down,” Nurse declared. “We speak about it far too usually within the final 5 years that I’ve been right here.”

Then Connor McDavid arrived in camp and swiftly remarked, “Nobody’s placing their head within the sand right here. Everybody understands the place we’re at, and we’ve bought to maintain the puck out of our internet if we need to achieve success.”

Then opening night time arrived, and Edmonton gave up 5.

5, 5-on-5 targets in a 5-3 loss Wednesday — a recreation that confirmed precisely what staff the Edmonton Oilers try to not be.

“We haven’t performed shortly,” stated the less-than-trusty defenceman Adam Larsson. “I don’t assume we anticipated the proper recreation, however this was removed from it. There are particular areas the place we have now to get quite a bit higher.

“The greasy areas, we have now to do quite a bit higher work.”

The goaltending was common and the defensive zone protection properly under that, because the Vancouver Canucks exploited goalie Mikko Koskinen for 3 targets that had been some model of a breakaway, and one other one-timer by a wide-open Adam Gaudette left to make a sandwich between the hash marks.

Look: Vancouver was the higher staff, little question. They deserved the 2 factors, unequivocally.

The Canucks can rating, and once they’re skating in alone in your goalie shift after shift, they’ll beat you for enjoyable. That’s what occurred within the season opener, as Vancouver held leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2 and 5-3.

Braden Holtby was higher than Koskinen, however wasn’t left to his personal units almost as a lot as the massive Finn. Edmonton’s unfastened play from the qualifying-round loss to Chicago by no means missed a beat versus Vancouver.

“Simply poor reads and poor puck play by some individuals,” stated Oilers head coach Dave Tippett. “Grade-A probabilities towards. Hand over sufficient of them and so they’re going to capitalize.”

Was it the variety of probabilities allowed that disturbed Tippett? Or the standard of probabilities?

“Each,” he started, “however the high quality of those they scored on, you’ve bought to search out methods to defend higher on these. Larsson made a poor learn on the primary one. (Zack) Kassian made a poor learn on the fifth one. Caleb Jones made a poor learn on (the fourth one). These are puck play errors compounded by poor reads, errors by gamers that result in Grade-A probabilities towards.

“These are those,” Tippett continued. “If we need to be a greater staff, a tougher staff to play towards, these are those which have to return out of our recreation.”

McDavid went pointless in 25:42 of ice time, however created greater than sufficient alternatives. It was his reverse quantity, the as soon as defensively accountable Larsson, whose responsibility was derelict.

Is Larsson completed as a shutdown-type defenceman? He was poor final season, brutal within the qualifying spherical, and on opening night time he made two reads that resulted in Canucks strolling in on their lonesome to attain on Koskinen.

There was a robust defensive defenceman right here, and should still be one. However a season that begs for a significant bounce-back started with a thud for Larsson.

“It was a few breakdowns right now that price us targets,” Larsson stated. “We nonetheless imagine in our staff we nonetheless have actually good gamers I’m actually assured we’ll get this fastened tomorrow.”

There isn’t a have to overreact, with a rematch Thursday towards Vancouver. The truth is, beginning the season this fashion is a superb reminder that this flashy, offensive-minded Oilers staff gained’t win squat till they be taught to determine the components of the sport that by no means make the spotlight reel.

Tippett has been preaching that for the whole lot of coaching camp. We’d say he ought to have a receptive crew at this morning’s video session.

“We had a really receptive staff at first of camp and we nonetheless have a receptive staff,” he stated, clearly miffed post-game. “It’s a matter of doing it.

“It’s a matter of getting the job completed.”