Much like last year, the Edmonton Oilers are struggling to get going in the early days of the season, and while worries aren’t yet overwhelming the locker room’s thoughts, there are a few annoyances plaguing their head coach Jay Woodcroft.
The Alberta team lost a home-and-away series to the Vancouver Canucks and suffered an 8-1 defeat on opponents’ soil on Wednesday before escaping 4-3 in its first home game on Saturday. The most positive will say the Oilers lost two of their first three games of the 2022-2023 calendar, but certain corrections need to be made. In particular, the rather porous defense has already attracted the attention of observers.
“There were mental mistakes and we have to sort that out. “In order to move forward, this is a step that needs to be taken,” Woodcroft admitted to the Edmonton Sun newspaper.
“If you have two failures in the middle of the year, it’s not the end of the world. There you have two and all those questions about your defensive play come back, added forward Zach Hyman. Of course, this isn’t ideal, but there’s no need to panic. We are a very confident group. We won’t think about it too much. We know our potential.”
Goalkeeper under the microscope
However, if Connor McDavid’s gang wants to pile up wins, they will have to rely on a brigade in better shape on the blue line as well as more convincing goaltenders. Jack Campbell was hounded after giving up four times on 16 shots on Wednesday, while Stuart Skinner has a save percentage of .750 and a goals-against average of 5.33. Those are not stats worthy of an All-Star Game participant.
“So far he has been the reflection of our training. The pilot commented that he had good moments and others in which he could improve. He’s like everyone else, we can all do better.”
“There is a little bit of frustration,” Skinner added. Of course, you want to start with two wins, not two losses. However, in my opinion, adversity will never kill you. This will make you significantly stronger. And it could be very good for us to face it so early. Everything will depend on how we get back on our feet.”
The Oilers visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.