Draisaitl Makes Return, But Oilers Let Jarry Down with "Real, Real Bad" Puck Play

The Pittsburgh Penguins struck first and struck quickly on Thursday night. If that wasn't bad enough, they did so two more times in 35 seconds to take a 3-0 lead in the first three minutes of a game that the Edmonton Oilers should have wanted to start well in, if for no other reason than their starting goaltender was playing his old team.

Anthony Mantha scored both goals, and neither was Tristan Jarry's fault. Sidney Crosby scored seconds later with a beautiful tip from the slot, easily winning the head-to-head battle against Connor McDavid, who, by his own admission, wasn't very good. 

Jarry was hung out to dry, and McDavid's offense wasn't there to save the day.

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Three goals in four shots was not the way the Oilers wanted to start after two brutally flat periods the game before against the New Jersey Devils. 

The disaster against the Penguins was another embarrassing start for the Oilers. They began to push back in the latter half of the period, eventually outshooting the Penguins 13-9, but they couldn't sustain things, and their puck management remained an issue.  It remained a problem all night, and the Oilers eventually lost 6-2.

McDavid said the game wasn't on Jarry. Too many Grade-A looks again, he noted. That included an easy tip-in and a breakaway. "Obviously not ideal, not a great start. Playing catch-up is tough in this league, and you look pretty bad when you're doing it."

When asked about when this Oilers team needs to flip the switch that everyone is waiting on them to flip: "30 games left, we're coming down the home stretch here. There's no February this year. Our sense of urgency has got to go up in our group."

McDavid added, "The playoff race is really tight. We've got to find a way to get points here, especially at home."

As mentioned earlier, McDavid was the first to admit he wasn't very good. In back-to-back games, he's not gotten a point. "It starts with me; my last two were probably not my best. I can be better," he said. "When I'm better, the whole group usually responds. So that starts there."

The problem is that the Oilers, as a group, are flat.

It's clear to everyone, including the Oilers' captain, that there's an issue. "It can even start in practice, I thought our puck play has been real bad. Real, real bad," McDavid said. "We're not really connecting on passes. When we do, it's kind of sloppy, bouncing, whatever it is. When we're playing that way, we look slow and clunky. I thought we've looked that way for the last two games." 

"Yeah, he's absolutely right," Knoblauch said. "Some nights you're not feeling it, but after a certain amount of time, a long stretch, then you have to change something." Knoblauch agreed, "The last two games, the puck play has been horrendous. We've given up a lot of chances."

As for the urgency, that's one of two things, the coach said. First, the players find it within themselves to play harder and find a way, or second, "the coach just chooses the guys who are playing with that urgency and can dictate ice time."

When it came to the three goals in 37 seconds, "Obviously, giving up three goals in the first three minutes is not good. We weren't ready."

Jarry didn't have his best game, but he certainly wasn't the problem. The parade of chances against meant this game could have been 8 or 9 goals against if not for some big saves. 

When it came to the Oilers letting Jarry down, "Very disappointing, especially for Jarry," said Knoblauch. "How many breakaways, two-on-ones, Grade-A scoring chances... You look at the shots against, and it looks bad, six goals on 21 shots, but the type of chances we gave up, it was not an easy night for our goaltender."

Jarry spoke after the game, too. 

"It's tough, just managing the puck. It's key for any team. Our puck management tonight hurt us a little bit," said Jarry. He admitted he wanted to beat his old team, but three goals against in 37 seconds made that difficult. 

"I think it's just being on the same page. Some of the turnovers and some of the missed plays, if we clean that up, it puts us on the better side of things more times than not."  

Knoblauch said the game shouldn't just be on McDavid or the goaltender. "That's where our team needs to step up, not necessarily scoring goals, but better team defense where we can win games 2-1, rather than having to score four or five to win."

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