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 Edmonton Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers stretches to make a save against Minnesota left winger Andrew Brunette Tuesday in St. Paul, Minn. The Oilers lost 4-2. (MARILYN INDAHL/QMI Agency) |
ST. PAUL — Derek Boogaard, who’s been Edmonton's one-man nightmare for years, was a scratch Tuesday, meaning Edmonton, for a change, didn’t have to skate around X-Cel Energy Centre in a cold sweat.
Boogaard’s done everything but steal Edmonton’s lunch money and hold their heads in the toilet, and his absence meant nobody was going to get hurt.
With the bully gone, this game had revenge of the nerds written all over it.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, they still got beaten up on the scoreboard.
They added another mistake-filled gem to their growing collection and return home winless from their four-game trip through Montreal, Toronto, Columbus and Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss in Minnesota.
Edmonton outshot the Wild 36-28, including 20-4 in the third period, but time and time again, in the game, on the trip and over the course of this miserable season, they left opponents wide open around their net for easy one-timers and tap ins.
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“It’s been that way for the last three months, really,” said centre Shawn Horcoff. “We make a lot of blind plays that result in turnovers. We’re making silly mistakes out there for whatever reason. It’s happening a lot. Silly plays up the middle that result in easy plays for the other teams.
“We just have find a way to build some more accountability in our game because there are just too many holes and it’s costing us hockey games.”
It cost them four in a row on this swing. And this wasn’t exactly Murderer’s Row - they were playing the 29th, 25th, 19th and 16th place teams in the league - but gave up 20 goals only led for 6:02, in the first period of the first game against Montreal.
“It’s about getting the job done,” said head coach Pat Quinn. “It’s really disappointing because we did a lot of good things, but as we’ve said many times, our nemesis has been our defensive zone coverage, and not just our defencemen.
“When you lose battles, when your third forward can’t help you out as much as he needs to help you, you lose games to those kinds of goals.”
Trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Oilers were trailing 16-6 on the shot clock through midway through the second period when Marc Pouliot scored one against the flow to square things up.
But 10 minutes later they gave up an easy one-timer to Antti Miettinen.
The Oilers tied it again on Ryan Potulny’s third period goal with a two-man advantage, but three minutes later Chuck Kobasew was all alone at the back door. Four minutes after that, Martin Havlat got a good look from up close to make it 4-2.
Game over.
And as bad as they were defensively, the offence can’t escape bame, either. You don’t win many with six shots through 28 minutes, or when you outshoot the other guys 20-4 in the third period and get outscored 2-1.
“We have to make plays, it’s not just the guy with the puck, guys have to get open for him, make it easy for the guy with the puck to make a play,” said Sam Gagner, who had two assists. “We can’t have guys standing around.”
The Wild have now won 13 in a row at home against Edmonton, outscoring them 47-16 and tying the longest such streak in the NHL (Nashville has won 13-straight home games against Columbus).
“It’s obviously frustrating to come into this building again and lose,” said Gagner. “Hopefully next year writes a different story.”
robert.tychkowski@sunmedia.ca