How yet another sluggish start buried Oilers in loss to Maple Leafs
EDMONTON In whats become far too commonplace of late, the Edmonton Oilers fell behind early and in a big way.
Try as they might, it was too much to overcome this time.
Much like what happened on five occurrences within a six-game stretch in January, the Oilers spotted an opponent a multi-goal, first-period lead when they allowed the first three tallies against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Advertisement The Oilers won three of those five games.
They might even have made it four of six if a tying goal by Leon Draisaitl with 2:04 remaining wasnt wiped off the board after a successful Toronto coachs challenge.
In the end, the Oilers couldnt fully recover against the Maple Leafs and lost 4-3.
I dont know what it is, Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard said.
Weve got to find a way to not dig ourselves a hole.
When youre down three goals, its a tough one to come out of.
It doesnt matter who youre playing against.
The Oilers were in tough entering the game as they were forced to go without top-pairing defenceman Mattias Ekholm due to illness.
That caused a rejigging of the pairs, which created notable upheaval in the top four.
Ekholms normal partner, Bouchard, played with Brett Kulak, whereas his partner from the last game, John Klingberg, skated next to Darnell Nurse.
He makes a massive difference everywhere, Draisaitl said of Ekholm.
He plays in every situation.
He controls the game back there.
That put Klingberg in a tough spot, considering it was his second game since Nov.
11, 2023, after returning from a double hip resurfacing procedure.
The plan was to ease Klingberg into action as he attempts to get back up to NHL speed.
Instead, he saw a four-minute jump in ice time (20:46) after playing 16:39 in his Oilers debut on Thursday.
Knoblauch said the Oilers trailing dictated Klingbergs usage as well.
Were chasing a game.
Were down.
Youre looking to play your offensive players a little bit more, Knoblauch said.
He is a pretty good offensive player, whos going to help contribute in that aspect.
Despite the extra workload for the blueliners Kulak played 21 minutes, while Bouchard led all Edmonton skaters with 27:05 it was goaltending and the penalty kill that let the Oilers down early.
Stuart Skinner was caught looking the wrong way around a screen, which allowed William Nylander to beat him on the stick side to open the scoring.
That's another 30-goal season for William Nylander! #NHLStats : https://t.co/XiKt6xeBkA : @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/xWq7NRxcem NHL (@NHL) February 2, 2025 Skinner then surrendered juicy rebounds that led to a pair of power-play goals for the Maple Leafs.
Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann scored after Troy Stecher and Connor Brown, respectively, failed to box them out.
I thought the penalty kill did a pretty good job, except where its most important around the net, coach Kris Knoblauch said.
We just lost two battles there.
Theres two goals on our kill.
Advertisement Its those little details in the game that matter and come back to haunt you, Perry said.
Stecher has been bumped to the No.
7 slot since Klingbergs addition.
Hes typically the No.
5 PK option among blueliners when hes in the lineup.
Ekholms absence was felt at four-on-five.
We missed him there, Knoblauch said.
Those two special-teams goals made a comeback a Herculean task for the Oilers.
They were up to the challenge as they pulled within a one in the third period thanks to goals from Zach Hyman and Corey Perry after Mitch Marner put Toronto up 4-1 just 18 seconds into the frame.
They even managed to briefly tie the score before Draisaitls goal was rescinded.
They officially never got to level terms, though.
If we make less mistakes then were probably going to win the game, Draisaitl said.
Thats what it comes down to.
The closest they came after Draisaitls cancelled goal was when Perry was robbed by Joseph Woll at the buzzer.
Woll sprawled out to glove his shot with zeros on the clock.
If I had an extra second, I probably would have stepped around him, taken one more step and shot it at the net, Perry said.
I knew I didnt have that time.
Close but not enough.
The Oilers didnt play particularly well over their last three games yet still won two of them and collected five of a possible six points.
That kind of stretch usually means a team is due for a loss.
It sure looked that way based on what went down early on.
They looked out of sorts early on, highlighted by missed passes and bobbled pucks.
That was particularly evident on the power play, where the Oilers were 0-for-2.
We go out there every time thinking were going to score, Bouchard said.
It was a little sloppy, especially a little bit on my end.
When they score two power-play goals, you want to get one back.
We didnt, and that was a big difference.
Advertisement The Oilers went with a different look up front at five-on-five.
They loaded up with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid on the top line but went with the teams elder statesman, Perry, to start the game instead of usual sidekick Hyman.
A ripple effect to that is Perry isnt suited to handle the types of minutes McDavid and Draisaitl can, so a group of wingers rotated in that spot.
Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Skinner all got a look there.
I dont think its the line combinations, Knoblauch said.
The Oilers really didnt think they played that poorly in the first period.
They felt that a few errors, namely on the PK, hurt them more than anything else.
It was just the goals, Draisaitl said.
Other than that, we controlled most of the play.
They capitalized on their chances and then you dig yourself a hole and its too hard to come back.
Thats exactly it.
The Oilers certainly carried the play from there.
The problem was they let the deficit get too big.
Its not a bad game, Draisaitl said.
Its tough to go down three goals twice.
(Photo: Leila Devlin / Getty Images).
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