EDMONTON – I’ll take Russian goalies from Florida for $500, Alex.
Two nights after Andrei Vasilevskiy made 53 stops to give Tampa Bay a 7-4 win in Edmonton, the Oilers were defeated Sergei Bobrovsky and that Florida Panthersthis time with a score of 5:1.
Edmonton is done with the two Florida teams and their outstanding Russian goaltenders for the 2023-24 season, and the Oilers are happy to say: “Make svidaniya.”
The Oilers have lost all four games, and after an eight-game winning streak led them to being over .500 in one game, they are now back in the red at 13-14-1 following a two-game losing streak.
“I don’t think we defended well enough,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I don’t think there was enough urgency to protect the slots. We made some mistakes – they forced us to do that, and that’s part of hockey – but I just didn’t like the way we responded.
“I don’t think there were more turnovers than in our typical game. But when there was a mistake or they had pucks, we just didn’t protect the dangerous ice.”
Evander Kane put it more succinctly:
“We were soft on our own end,” Kane said. “I don’t know where it came from, hopefully it’s an isolated case. We can get better in this area and clean this up.”
Both Vasilevskiy and to a lesser extent Bobrovsky had to be sharp to win at Rogers Place. This is a testament to an Oilers team that has seen everything it has shot for eight games and now, as expected, things are going a little dry.
But it doesn’t matter whether it’s Stuart Sinner or Saturday’s starter Calvin PickardIt’s pretty clear that Edmonton can’t claim the pedigree of starters that neither the Panthers nor the Lightning have.
So if you know that the opposing team has a better goalkeeper, then it makes sense to play tight defense, right?
Well, you would think so. Then the game started and one by one the Panthers found themselves in good position to score.
Florida built a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals from Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov. These goals were facilitated by defensive misjudgments from Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Warren Foegele.
The Oilers, who at one point had allowed just a single goal in four of five games during their eight-game streak, were again the team that may not have missed many chances – but the ones they did were massive mistakes.
“Pick had absolutely no chance. Guys that come right out of the slot, guys that pressure him…,” Knoblauch said. “I don’t blame him in the first half. We are down 3-0, there are no problems with him in these plays.”
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Zach Hyman scored the Oilers’ only goal, his 18th. His career high is 36 goals, and Hyman has reached half of that goal in just 28 games.
Edmonton took a 4-2 lead after six games at home, and now they head east to play the Islanders, Devils and Rangers before the Christmas break.
Good teams don’t lose three times in a row, and the Oilers consider themselves a pretty good team.
“Tonight we weren’t happy with it,” defenseman Brett Kulak said. “We came out and weren’t good from the start. We have to get our game back.”
They will likely meet two more Russian goaltenders on this trip, against Ilya Sorokin and the Islanders on Tuesday, and after a game in New Jersey next Friday against Igor Shesterkin’s New Rangers.
