Oilers aid Canucks tanking efforts, depth scoring steps up without Draisaitl, and Tristan Jarry’s shutout |
On Thursday night, the Edmonton Oilers couldn’t buy themselves a goal.
They got shut out 1-0 by Ilya Sorokin and the New York Islanders as Connor McDavid’s 20-game point streak came to a screeching halt. There was no lack of chances, however, as the Oilers poured on 35 shots, but they just couldn’t bear down enough. Fast forward to Saturday night, and they couldn’t stop scoring, racking up six goals in the second period enroute to a 6-0 shutout.
CANUCKS DRIVE THE TANK
Oilers fans know a bad team when they see one, and boy, do the Canucks stink. We’re talking full-on middle of the Decade of Darkness stink. With Nuge Week capping off tonight when he plays in his 1,000th NHL game, I’ve been thinking back to the Decade of Darkness, and just how good Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was on some terrible teams. These Canucks don’t even have that anymore, as Elias Pettersson doesn’t seem to be nearly as effective as he was years ago, Quinn Hughes has been traded, and the rest of the roster is filled with a bunch of guys.
In the Oilers’ first true tank year, 2009-10, they still had players who were enjoyable to watch. A young Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner and Gilbert Brule, who we were all convinced would be stars, a still young but........