The Edmonton Oilers got embarrassed against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, losing by a 9-1 blowout margin to drop their record down to 6-6-4.
With a three-game losing streak and a goal differential well into the red, the Oilers are falling victim to yet another early-season slump.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed how much the goaltending was to blame for the loss and whether it could be the spark needed to jolt the team back to life.
Tyler Yaremchuk: We have the board up here from the 9-1 slaughtering on Saturday night that the Edmonton Oilers went through… It’s gotten ugly. They have just six wins in their first 16 games here. The goaltending numbers, very ugly. Stuart Skinner a little but hung out to dry, but there was also a couple of those that I think he probably wanted to stop. It’s getting worse in Edmonton, maybe the ass-kicking is what they needed though.
Carter Hutton: Maybe this is something that’s eye-opening for them… I do sympathize at times because it gets a little lost in chaos, but if you look at the start of that game, both of Makar’s goals to start aren’t great goals. Those are savable pucks. They’re good shots; he’s a great player, but it’s from distance. Those are ones that have to be saved. Skinner’s been tough and again, how long is the leash for Pickard? He’s not really ever going to be your number one guy. He’s been awesome, and I love Calvin Pickard, but this is a team trying to win a Stanley Cup. This isn’t a team just trying to get by… so I feel like a change is coming.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I think that 9-1 loss, they needed something like that. They were feeling their way into the season. They were not playing with a tremendous amount of urgency… I think them getting embarrassed on national television on a Saturday night, I think in the long run it’s going to be good for them.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…
