"It's one game": Hyman believes Oilers can get back to winning ways
After two straight losses, the Edmonton Oilers’ previous eight-game winning streak seems like ancient history suddenly.
It’s fair to chalk up Thursday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning as running into a red-hot goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made an astounding 53 saves. Saturday night’s 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers lacked any good excuse.
The Panthers instilled their will against the Oilers, crushing them with a tireless cycle and a few quick rush goals. It was the type of game you could expect from the team earlier in the season, not the one that had clawed itself back into playoff contention.
Despite this, Oilers forward Zach Hyman told reporters after the game that the team is determined to forget these losses and get back to their winning ways.
“It’s one game, I think we have played some really good hockey of late,” Hyman said. “You never wanna play a bad game, it happens.
“You got to nip it in the bud quick and get back to playing the way we’ve honestly shown we can.”
"It’s a game that we’ve got to be better in & we know that we can be."
After scoring the only #Oilers goal tonight, Zach Hyman shares his thoughts. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/h4pAGYDLYM
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 17, 2023
For what it was worth, Hyman did get the Oilers’ only goal of the game, raising his total to a team-leading 18 on the year. It was little consolation in a game that once again pulled Edmonton under .500 with a record that now reads 13-14-1.
It’s a record they’ll have to live with as the team prepares to embark on a three-game road trip to New York City before the holidays. Oilers forward Evander Kane thinks the trip will help the team reset and get back to playing the way they want.
“It’ll be good to get on the road, go to New York City, this time of the year it’s always fun,” Kane told reporters. “Hopefully we can regroup [on Sunday] and get ready for a travel day on Monday and have a good road trip into Christmas.”
"We were soft in our own end & gave up the middle ice too easy."
Evander Kane speaks after a 5-1 defeat to the Panthers. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/0HZJ3tpU5b
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 17, 2023
Kane in particular has been having some struggles of late. He was demoted to the team’s third line on Thursday and stayed there during Saturday’s loss. For now, the team is trying to find some offence from their middle-six forward group, which only has one goal in the last three games.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch admitted that they are still searching for the right mix.
“We’ve been kind of changing lines there a little bit, moving guys around, we’d like to get a little more production [in the middle six],” said Knoblauch. “I think our fourth line has been chipping in, obviously the first line is scoring at a tremendous rate… we’re trying to find a little more balanced scoring through there.”
"We weren’t protecting the dangerous ice."
Coach Knoblauch shares his perspective on the loss at home.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/hOxINEEQcq
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 17, 2023
The team also might be without an important member of their fourth line as forward Derek Ryan did not play in the third period after appearing to suffer some sort of injury in the second. Knoblauch didn’t have an exact prognosis but he doesn’t expect it to be a long-term issue.
The Oilers will now practice on Sunday before flying to New York City on Monday. Their first game of the road trip will be in Long Island on Tuesday for a date with the New York Islanders.