Despite McDavid's hot streak, the Oilers struggle for consistency and offensive support. Rookies show flashes, but the team falls short.
"Not enough," said Zach Hyman when asked if there was enough push after the Philadelphia Flyers opened up a 3-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon. "Lots of room for improvement... need more intensity, more urgency to our game. Nothing structurally, just gotta work," he added. "It's time that we string a bunch of games together."
Adam Henrique agreed, saying, "We've got to find a way to be consistent in our best game." Connor McDavid seems to have found it, but that's not enough. The rest of the roster needs to chip in, and Henrique admitted, "We certainly talk about it a lot."
McDavid has been on a tear -- extending his point streak to 15 games --, but the team isn't giving him much help. The hope was that the line of rookies recently called up from the AHL (sans Matt Savoie) could add a little spark. They didn't get many opportunities, even though Knoblauch didn't think it was a bad showing for their first game together. That line featured Savoie (played 10:16), Ike Howard (played 11:52), and Quinn Hutson (played 9:17).
Knoblauch said he went with the trio because Howard and Hutson are familiar with each other (having played a lot in Bakersfield of the AHL). "They just play their game." They are like-minded players who aren't intimidated, especially together, and they won't defer or alter what they're good at if a superstar or veteran is put on that line. "Mostly positive," when he was asked to describe what he saw.
The rest of the lines offered no points and no real indication that they would.
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Game Results:
The Oilers held most of the offensive zone possession through the first seven minutes, including a couple of good looks. Unfortunately, the dominoes started to fall when Denver Barkey got his first goal as he beat Roslovic to the front of the Oilers net and tipped it past Pickard. Owen Tippett made a great pass on a solid breakout.
Travis Sanheim got the Flyers a two-goal lead with a nice shot from the faceoff circle as the Oilers got hemmed in and couldn't clear a bouncing puck.
Bobby Brink (well, at least his skate) made it 3-0 for the Flyers. Pickard through his arms up as if to suggest he couldn't catch a break.
Darnell Nurse and Garnet Hathaway dropped the mitts. Right after, Connor McDavid got a goal on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1. Ekholm hit McDavid with a great pass to send him in. Vladar made three key saves with just over two minutes in the first, on three big shots with lengthy rebounds.
The Oilers pulled Pickard with 0.4 seconds left on a faceoff play hoping for a prayer. 13-9 were the shots on the goal for the Oilers. They held zone time and chances, but the Flyers made the most of theirs.
The Oilers did get much until midway through the second when Janmark drew a penalty for highsticking. Evan Bouchard made it count with a bomb from the point. 3-2 Flyers.
Oilers got another power play look with 8:18 left in the second. They couldn't capitalize. There were a couple of tense moments at the end of second as Evan Bouchard turned over the puck twice with seven seconds remaining.
Nick Seeler made it 4-2 on a shot from the point that Pickard either never saw or was way late to react to. the goal came at 9:09 of the third.
Owen Tippett scored to make it 5-2 for the Flyers with 1:10 left in the third.
The Oilers scored two goals on 24 shots, while the Flyers put five behind Pickard on 29 shots. It was another disappointing loss for the Oilers, two in a row coming out of the holiday break. Edmonton will now look to solve its issues at practice until they face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
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