Oilers Drop 6-2 Decision To Florida

Just one of those nights.

The Edmonton Oilers were outgunned by a hunger Panthers team on Sunday afternoon. Mike Smith was pulled early in the second period after allowing 3 goals less than three minutes into the period.

Edmonton drops to 7-3-1 on the season and 5-1-0 on home ice. It wasn’t a pretty game to say the least, but for the sake of post-game coverage, lets take a look at how we got here.

It was a tale of two teams in the first period. Florida had the early jump on Edmonton and controlled the pace off the get go. Mike Smith was solid and it allowed Edmonton to rebound in the second half of the period. The most notable thing to happen in the period was an apparent injury sustained by Mike Smith after taking a Mike Hoffman shot off the inner thigh. Smith would stay in the game and the period would end scoreless.

The second period is where it all feel apart for the Oilers. Aaron Ekblad notched his first of the year on a snapshot in the slot which was followed by two quick goal by Brian Boyle and Colten Scevior. All these goals came within the first 3 minutes of the second period and that was it Mike Smith as Mikko Koskinen would come on in relief. The Oilers had some chances but failed to crack Bob, 3-0 Florida after 40 minutes.

There were no miracles in the third period tonight for Edmonton. Dadanov would give Florida a 4-0 lead early in the period. James Neal would get the Oilers on the board and Leon Draisaitl would make things interesting with his 9th on the year, but it wouldn't be enough as the the final score would read 6-2.

The Bad:

• Everyone on the Oilers were just....meh. Nobody really stood out all game long. I don’t have much to say cause its not like they played horribly....but they didn't play good as well. Just overwhelmingly meh.
• We have officially entered a drought when it comes to the team’s power play. They went 0 for () and were unable to generate a lot of high quality scoring chances.
• Mike Smith should get a few games on the bench after tonight’s performance. Mikko Koskinen has been rolling recently and he even looked pretty good in relief. We have an early leader for this season’s starting goalie and it ain’t Smith.
• Another game, another scoreless night for the team’s bottom 6. This is becoming a very real problem for the organization.

Other Takeaways:

• Time for a shuffle on the bottom 6. The current group is not scoring and the organization can’t keep waiting for it. Guys like Kailer Yamamoto and Tyler Benson should at least get a look at what they can do. My top candidates for demotion are Markus Granlund and Jujhar Khaira. Lets see if the kids can jumpstart that part of the roster.
• The same goes for Brandon Manning. We have a perfectly good William Lagesson waiting to make his NHL debut, lets see it. Manning hasn’t been effective at all in his role so far this season so injecting Lagesson into a few games shouldn't hurt.
• Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were the best Oilers on the ice tonight but the lack of support that they have is showing. They can’t do it all every game.
• It was one of those days that Oil Country has become accustomed to over the years. Shake it off and hope Tuesday in Detroit goes better.