Oilers get chippy but fail to capitalize on chances vs. Ducks: ‘Missing that finish’
Lukas Dostal frustrated the Oilers with 47 saves, while Ducks captain Radko Gudas simply ticked them off.
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ANAHEIM — Lukas Dostal frustrated the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, while Radko Gudas simply ticked them off, reminding us all that it’s not 1995 in the National Hockey League anymore.
The Oilers threw 49 shots at Dostal, scoring only twice, a lack of finish that was equal parts Dostal’s brilliance and an Oilers team missing its top two finishers — and several others — in a 3-2 loss in Anaheim.
But it was the cheap shot that Gudas laid on Corey Perry that had Darnell Nurse and Alex Jones whispering in Gudas’ ear the rest of the night, offers that the Ducks captain chose not to entertain after a sneaky dirty hit that sent Corey Perry to the dressing room for a few shifts.
The referees missed the Gudas hit, and several other infractions, and the game devolved into a series of scrums between young players who really never seem to show an interest anymore in settling things down the way hockey players once did.
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“I’m not a big fan of the scrums. You get in there and you scrum it up and whatever… A couple minor roughings per side,” said Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak.
What would he prefer to have seen on Monday?
“I think (Gudas) just answers the bell,” said the veteran defenceman. “He knows what he did, and I know he got challenged out there by multiple guys. That’s probably the proper way it should have been done, but that’s not the way it happened. So, yeah, it led to a chippy game.”
No one on the ice — including the officials — saw Gudas throw out a sturdy shoulder on the unsuspecting Perry, with the puck a good six or eight feet away. It wasn’t vicious or suspension-worthy, just a sneaky hard bit of interference that left Perry on the ice in pain.
After a couple of shifts Nurse started following Gudas around the ice, to no avail.
“Guys dug in and tried to get physical,” Nurse said. “That’s the game: Sometimes things happen out there. People can choose to answer or not. And I thought our response was pretty good.”
Said Kulak: “Guys don’t just go after someone if they’re not willing to drop the gloves. If they don’t want to (fight) they won’t just go and grab them and start throwing ‘em — and I don’t think that’s a bad thing either.
“But it would be nice if, when you throw a cheap play and you take someone out, you’re responsible for what you did.”
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That drama aside, this was a case of an Oilers team that generated a ton of chances, while giving up a few very choice ones in return.
Evan Bouchard was dangerous at both ends of the ice, directly responsible for two goals against, while assisting on one and hitting the post in the final seconds with the goalie pulled. It was one of those nights where his mercurial offensive game was cancelled out by defensive mediocrity, where he couldn’t score his way back to even on a lousy night in his own end.
Up front, Connor Brown had a couple of Grade A’s and couldn’t cash. Mattias Janmark had an excellent chance with the score 3-1 and failed. Perry put it on a platter for Jones, who couldn’t bury.
The power play had six opportunities and didn’t score once. Missing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to injury, a power-play goal or two would likely have been enough on this night.
“That’s some hard slack to pick up,” Nurse said after a 2-2 road trip. “Those two guys are usually leading the goal scoring or points race in the league. When you generate the amount of chances that we generated, on most nights, guys are finding ways to put a few more in. But yeah, we were definitely missing that finish.”
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“The power play wasn’t as sharp as it usually is,” added head coach Kris Knoblauch. “When you’re taking the guys out who control that power play, it’s going to make as big difference.”
Olivier Rodrigue took the ‘L’ in his first ever NHL start in goal. He was just fine, beaten on a breakaway, a cross-ice one-timer, and by Cutter Gauthier (two goals) who danced around Bouchard and roofed it past Rodrigue.
Missing as much fire power as the Oilers are, they’ll need to play a tighter brand of defence to collect points over their final five games.
“You’re bang on there,” Kulak said. “Just too many chances. For our goalie’s first game — and he made some big saves for us — those are chances you just can’t give up, and we just gave up too many of them.
“If we clean that up a little, maybe we win the game 2-1.”
