Irrelevant

The Edmonton Oilers faced longtime teammate Sam Gagner tonight for the first time since this past summer's trade to the Lightning, and subsequently to the Coyotes. Samwise had a quiet night, with zero points on Arizona's six goals and just one shot on net.

Ben Scrivens probably wishes he'd had a similarly quiet night, as his contributions were loud and clear—and not in a good way.

First Period: That’s More Like It

1:10 Mark Arcobello shows good speed splitting the D and getting a shot on Mike Smith.

1:25 Jordan Eberle with a lightning-quick feed to Taylor Hall off a point shot rebound. Hall is alone in front and makes it 1-0 for the Oilers.

2:00 Mark Fayne and Nail Yakupov play catch in the neutral zone. Oilers have shown some difficulty so far this season breaking out of their zone with pace and puck possession.

3:00 Jeff Petry with a nice play to block a shot off the wing from Mikkel Boedker.

5:30 Benoit Pouliot with a hard shot off a Yakupov pass on a 2-on-1. It was Leon Draisaitl who sent them in with a nice pass. Could have easily been 2-0 on the play.

6:30 Justin Schultz picks off a pass in the offensive zone and fires a wrist shot on net that barely catches Smith’s shoulder. The play leads to a period of sustained pressure in the Coyotes’ zone.

7:15 Petry rubs out Martin Erat on the side boards, stopping his advance into the corner of the Oilers zone.

7:56 Nikita Nikitin to the box for hooking.

8:22 On the man advantage, Boedker is left all alone cherry picking on the Oilers blue line. He was in behind Petry on the play. Ference didn’t pick him up either. He scores on the breakaway to make it 1-1.

8:40 David Moss gets called for hooking on Draisaitl. Oilers to the power play. They have a hard time gaining the zone, maintaining control, and setting up.

12:00 Schultz with a good stick to break up a Sam Gagner pass on a 2-on-1.

13:53 Kyle Chipchura makes it 2-1 for the Coyotes. This one is off a misplay from Scrivens, and therefore looks a lot like a few of the goals we’ve seen already this season. Draisaitl and Nurse are caught watching the puck a little, fail to pick up the man in the slot, though it looked like they were caught off guard a little by the play from Scrivens..

14:26 Hendricks gets called for interference while trailing the play in the NZ.

16:30 4-26-14 get a period of sustained pressure on the cycle. They generate a shot attempt on the shift.

17:50 Draisaitl banks it off the boards behind the Arizona net and Fayne puts away the bounce. It’s the German's first point in the regular season, and Fayne’s first regular season goal as an Oiler. 2-2.

19:30 Lauri Korpikosi beats Schultz to the front of the net and gets a shot off. Ben Scrivens is there this time to make the save.

Shot attempts are 17-16 for the Oilers at the end of the period, courtesy of War On Ice.

Second Period: Not This Again

1:00 Nurse shows some speed carrying the puck out of the defensive zone and sends it deep into the Coyotes’ end.

2:15 Scrivens goes down after a weird play off a point shot. On the replay, it looks like the puck goes off the side of his head. He's alright.

2:28 Antoine Vermette goes off for slashing.

2:49 Hall is robbed by Smith’s glove after a nice controlled zone entry and pass by Eberle.

3:30 That’s a helluva shift from Yakupov on the PP. He gets about 3 shots directed on net, one from the crease area and two from the top of the right circle. Then he lays a heavy hit on McMillan, who was unfortunately turning on the play.

5:08 Murphy scores as the trailer on a Coyotes rush. Ben Scrivens will want that one back.

6:15 Erat to Rob Klinkhammer in the slot for another Arizona goal. That spot in front of the Oilers net is ripe for the picking this season. This time it’s Gordon with the soft stick check on the goalscorer. Schultz fails to take away the passing lane.

it's THIS again. #oilers pic.twitter.com/rPJdBUYItu

— Jeff Chapman (@NewWaveOil) October 16, 2014

6:30 Yakupov heads to the box almost immediately after the goal. Oilers to the PK.

11:00 Yakupov catches the crossbar. Such a quick release.

14:00 Yakupov controls the puck on the zone entry, but loses it on a bit of a slash cutting to the middle. It’s nice to see Yak playing with a little bit of gusto.

18:12 Eberle is called for hooking. Korpikoski goes down easily. Arizona to the PP.

The Oilers trail 4-2 to the home team, and have a 54.11 CF% at 5v5 through two periods (War On Ice).

Third Period: Irrelevant

1:55 David Moss goes off for goalie interference and Petry is off for cross-checking. Scrivens looks a little shaken up on the play.

3:39 Hall makes a fantastic saucer pass over to Arcobello on a 3-on-1 rush to make it 4-3. Oilers are back in it.

8:00 Nice shift from the Draisaitl line, and Pouliot especially, sustaining pressure in the Yotes' zone. Pouliot looks shifty, and Draisaitl, a little slow in comparison.

9:06 Boedker scores on a weak backhand after a turnover at the offensive blue line. Petry was right there with Boedker but couldn't take the shot away. Scrivens looked like he had it but it trickles in. Another weak goal against the Professor.

12:00 Klinkhammer takes it away cleanly from Nurse and goes in on the breakaway. No goal as he puts it off the post.

12:59 Schlemko stalls an Oilers breakout at the blue line. Erat proceeds to cut to the net from the corner and score, making it 6-3 for the Coyotes. If it wasn't over before, it is now.

14:30 Taylor Hall takes advantage of a partial interception by Eberle. He's all alone in front and puts it away.

16:24 Eakins pulls Scrivens with over three minutes left to try and make up the two goal deficit.

19:33 Boedker steals the puck and goes in alone on the empty net. It's a hat trick for him.

In Conclusion

Goaltending was the difference again tonight for the Oilers, as Scrivens finished with an abysmal .778 save percentage and made a bad giveaway on the Coyotes’ second goal. If you combine that trend with the team’s common and costly defensive lapses in front of their own net, you’re going lose games more often than you win them.

The Oilers still finished the game with a 53.31 CF%. I'm with Lowetide in believing they're better than they were last fall.

Unfortunately, as Bruce put it at the end of the second period:

As long as the other guys have a 20% shooting percentage, the rest of the conversation is almost irrelevant. #sigh

— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) October 16, 2014