Achilles heel? Oilers need more from struggling Nurse-Ceci pairing
The Edmonton Oilers lost Game 1 of their second-round series in embarrassing fashion and there is plenty of blame to go around.
After opening up a 4-1 lead on the Canucks in the second period, things started to go sideways. Goaltender Stuart Skinner let up a few regrettable goals, the team stopped skating, and Edmonton could barely muster up a shot on goal in the final frame.
Yet, as concerning as all that may be, the continued struggles of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci on the team’s second defensive pair might be the hardest pill to swallow for Oilers fans. Ceci did score his first of the playoffs, but the pair was on the ice for four goals-against.
That includes Garland’s game-winner in which Nurse failed to contain the 5’10”, 165 lb forward.
CONOR FREAKING GARLAND OH MY GOODNESS !!! pic.twitter.com/YM2PI09kx8
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 9, 2024
With such poor on-ice results for the pair, you would think that they would be going up against the top lines of the Canucks, but you’d be wrong. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch had matched them against Vancouver’s third line, which should be a lighter assignment for a defenceman making over $9 million a season.
Unfortunately, this isn’t new for this pairing in the playoffs. Despite the Oilers success in the first round, Nurse and Ceci have been shredded on the ice and have been outscored by a 3-7 margin by both the Kings and Canucks now. In last year’s run to the second round, the pair was outscored 6-12 and in 2022’s run to the Western Conference Final, that margin was 20-24.
Overall, in three postseason runs with the Oilers, the Nurse-Ceci pairing has been outscored by a total margin of 29-43 while on the ice. This is utterly unacceptable from a pairing with your highest-paid defenceman and the fact that it hasn’t changed is concerning.
It’s one thing for these struggles to happen against top competition, but the pairing is no longer being utilized against the best of the best. Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard have taken over the toughest on-ice assignments and had favourable results. Even Brett Kulak and Vincent Desharnais have been trusted with tougher competition and the results have still been better than Nurse-Ceci.
It’s a long series and losing Game 1 is far from a death sentence for the Oilers. However, the Canucks exposed a glaring hole on the Oilers blueline last night and it needs to be better moving forward.
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