Oilers coach tries to make sense of first-game blowout ahead of home opener
It wasn’t quite how the Edmonton Oilers drew it up in the lead-up to the season opener.
Less than 24 hours after getting run out of Rogers Arena in Vancouver to the tune of an 8-1 defeat by the Canucks, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is still searching for all the answers.
The third-year NHL bench boss met with the media at Rogers Place on Thursday afternoon where he offered his version of the crushing defeat.
“Didn’t look any better on tape than it did in person, I can tell you that,” said Woodcroft. “For us, that game last night was well below what our standard is.
“There is not a person yesterday — coaches, players — that feel good about that game.”
Woodcroft steered clear from singling out any one player or position for the loss. Instead, he was surprised with how much of a complete failure it was on a team level.
“What was interesting about last night is that it was an off night for everybody,” said Woodcroft.
Despite the lopsided score, Woodcroft explained that, in watching the game back, the team didn’t spend much time in their defensive zone. Instead, Woodcroft said that it seemed like the Oilers were in the Canucks’ zone much more often.
"We get another crack at that same team coming into our building on Saturday night in front of the best fans in the world."
Coach Woodcroft reflects on last night's loss & looks ahead to the #Oilers home opener. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 12, 2023
With this in mind, the coach doesn’t believe the loss resulted from defensive breakdowns or trouble adapting to new systems.
“I saw a couple of breakout turnovers. I saw a couple of rush reads that have to be a whole lot better,” said Woodcroft. “That’s the type of game we should expect to see on a nightly basis from our opponents, and we’re disappointed that we didn’t meet the competitive level of last night’s game.”
Edmonton had a quick turnaround following the defeat and no time to dwell on things. The club flew back to Edmonton on Wednesday night and is set to appear at the West Edmonton Mall tonight to meet with fans and sign autographs.
This is something that Woodcroft believes will help them “flush” that game from their systems and focus on practice on Friday.
“The good news is that we get another crack at that same team in our building on Saturday night in front of the best fans in the world.”
A few notes that Woodcroft sprinkled in is that Dylan Holloway is expected to remain in the lineup after blocking a shot late in Wednesday’s game. Mattias Ekholm’s status for Saturday remains unclear, but Woodcroft says that the Swede is progressing “very well” in his recovery.
Both Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner struggled to keep the puck out of the net against Vancouver, and neither has been confirmed as the starter for the rematch quite yet. Woodcroft implied that the team was leaning toward Skinner but refused to give any confirmation.
The Oilers will practice tomorrow at Rogers Place before attempting to exact revenge against the Canucks with an 8 pm MT puck drop Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada.