The Edmonton Oilers Couldn’t Finish Against The Chicago Blackhawks

2 years ago  /  Kuklas Korner

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,


The Edmonton Oilers may have deserved a little bit of luck, but they surely did not deserve both of the points Thursday night in Chicago. Of that there is no doubt.

Sloppy? Yeah, this one was sloppy — and far more entertaining than a tightly played, 3-0 win two nights earlier in Philadelphia.

And so goes the reshaping of a hockey team that has always been one of the NHL’s most compelling teams to watch, even while it hasn’t won anything for a long, long time. At the tail end of a lengthy trip, the Oilers simply didn’t have the jam to maintain the structure they’ve come to know, and though a fortunate goal with 50 seconds to play gave Edmonton a point, the Blackhawks won it 4-3 with a power-play goal in OT.

“You know, I think we need a little bit more drive in our game,” assessed two-goal man Evander Kane. “I think we know how we can play. We need to continue to add that drive and that grit to our game, and simplify a little bit. Because when we do that we have success. So I thought we got away from that a little bit tonight. But we'll have to find it come Saturday.”

This was a turnover-fest against a Blackhawks team with little to play for — other than to win one for former defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson, the tough-as-nails Swede being honoured on this night. Or to defeat ex-teammate Duncan Keith, making his return to the Windy City for the first time as a Blackhawks opponent.


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