ANAHEIM — Can’t get a bounce, can’t catch a break.
Is it because the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 losers in overtime Sunday, haven’t earned a break or a bounce? Or that the always-on-their-front-foot Anaheim Ducks have?
Or is a loose puck that’s slung out of the corner, then hits a skate and bleeds through the five hole just a sign that this isn’t Edmonton’s spring, after two trips to the Stanley Cup Final?
Oh, and then the Situation Room — which we know to be a coin flip on plays like this one — sides against you too, adding insult to injury.
“I don’t know how they see it as a conclusive goal,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who, like all of us, only saw an angle where the puck was half-covered by the skate of goalie Tristan Jarry. “Maybe there is somebody who can prove otherwise, but it doesn’t matter. They called it a goal and we’ll have to abide with that.”
The good folks in the Situation Room emailed out this verdict: “The Referee’s initial call on the ice was that the puck completely crossed the goal line. Following video review, the Situation Room determined that the puck completely crossed the goal line.”
In their heart of hearts, the Oilers gave you the impression that they too thought the puck was likely over the line. But nobody was happy with the lack of video evidence, or the fact two referees did not make an on-ice call either way, finally settling on a “good goal” call after a centre-ice huddle with their linesmen a good minute after the goal.
“I thought we were going to get away with it,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “I’ve seen in the past where I thought goals have gone in and they haven’t been able to prove them (with video evidence). So I thought that’s what the call was going to be, but obviously they thought otherwise.”
To the Oilers’ credit, nobody was grousing too loud about the call. Not after blowing 2-0 and 3-2 leads.
The Oilers played their best defensive game of the series in Game 4, got excellent goaltending from surprise starter Jarry, and still walked out of The Pond with a sour taste in their mouths after a few bad bounces and a butt-ugly OT winner that was credited to Ryan Poehling.
“Just kind of a battle in the corner and it just gets thrown to the middle… It’s unlucky,” said Jarry, who watched Poehling’s centring pass carom in off Darnell Nurse’s foot. “An unlucky bounce goes off of the skate, just kind of bounces right between my legs, and it just kept going. It just died behind me.”
The Oilers talked about playing something a lot closer to 3-2 hockey before the series started, but four games in they’ve proven unable to hold these dynamic Ducks to anything less than three goals per game in regulation.
“I guess that’s something we have evidence now, through four games, that’s it’s been hard for us,” admitted Ekholm. “I thought we played better defensively. We have to stay out of the box and be better on the kill, but five-on-five I thought we took a step in the right direction.”
They’d better keep taking steps — and fast. Edmonton is down to its last life, with Game 5 set for Rogers Place Tuesday.
“We did a good job of putting ourselves in some pretty good spots and we just didn’t find a way to get it done,” said Connor McDavid, who had two assists, both on the power play. “We’re in a hole, no doubt about it. We have to find a way to get a win at home.”
McDavid was valiant, turning on whatever jets he has to skate around Beckett Sennecke, only to have Lukas Dostal make his best save of the game on him late in the third period. The Oilers captain is ailing, likely with the residual effects of getting his leg caught up Ekholm’s in Game 1.
We’d gauge him at about 70 per cent, but he logged 19:32 and was good defensively. He’s just missing the top 30 per cent of his game — the part that makes him the best player on earth.
Meanwhile Jason Dickinson returned, but he’s is playing at less than full speed. Zach Hyman isn’t close to himself, and we’re not entirely sure about Leon Draisaitl, who missed the last three weeks of the season with a knee issue.
How is McDavid’s health?
“We’re all doing the best we can out there. We’re all working and trying to get it done,” he said.
McDavid always falls into the team tense when he doesn’t want to talk about himself. Sometimes that’s when he’s doing otherworldly things, and sometimes it’s when he’s pushing through an injury.
“It’s not really about Connor McDavid here, it’s about two teams that are trying to figure each other out,” he said when pressed. “They’re playing well and we have another level as a group. I still feel there were some good signs tonight.”
The Oilers had won an NHL-record 10 straight Game 4s, and had won six straight Game 4s when trailing a series 2-1.
All of those streaks came to an end Sunday night in Anaheim, against a Ducks team that looks poised to set a few new marks of their own over the next few seasons.
The Oilers have to be perfect now.
We’re not sure they’re healthy enough for that.