Usual suspects come up empty as Edmonton Oilers fall flat in Dallas

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Nobody who splats face-first into the ground from 10,000 feet boasts about the first half of his sky dive.

And when the motorcycle daredevil crashes into the 14th bus of his jump, he doesn’t take solace in the air time he got over the first 13.

So forget about waxing poetic and fawning over silver linings Saturday in the wake of the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 loss in Dallas.

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In a major early-season test to determine who they are as a team, against a strong, highly motivated opponent that was off to a good start this year, the Oilers got rolled.

Yes, they ran Dallas out of the rink for the first 30 minutes, outshooting them 11-2 in the first period and 17-4 at the midway mark of the second period.

But they had nothing to show for it but a whole bunch of cinder-block hands and a 0-0 tie.

And it was all downhill from there. The Oilers gave up three-straight goals, didn’t turn a wheel offensively until garbage time and fell to 2-4 on the season.

“Our pace was good, we were checking really well but we couldn’t capitalize, we couldn’t put the puck in the net,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose club lost yet another special teams battle.

“We had two power-play opportunities and had some chances that didn’t go in and they have their (first and only) power play and score right away. That was the turning point of the game.”

It was the beginning of the end. Dallas went on the man advantage with 28.9 seconds left in the second period and 2.9 seconds later goaltender Stuart Skinner waved at a Matt Duchene wrist shot from the top of the face-off circles and it was 1-0.

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Dallas added the 2-0 insurance marker with 7:54 left in the game and it was 3-0 just 70 seconds later.

Game over.

“We didn’t score on our power plays and they scored on their first one on and went into the third with a lead and we couldn’t capitalize,” said Hyman, one of four Oilers forwards who doesn’t have a point through six games of the season.

“We had a lot of chances, a lot of looks, and weren’t able to beat (Stars goalie Jake Oettinger) until the six-on-five.”

Some thoughts:

THE NUMBER OF THE LEAST

Another blank night from the power play (0-2) dropped them to 6.66 per cent on the year. They are zero for their last 11 and one-for-15 on the season.

In four minutes of power-play time in Dallas they managed four shots.

What used to be their best weapon is now a weakness. It’s to the point now where Knoblauch has to contemplate changes to what was once the best power play in NHL history.

“We’re at the point where we have to be considering making some adjustments to it,” he said. “Every power play is going to go through a stretch of not scoring. But we’ve gone six games now and we’re 1-for-15. I’m not sure if we do it right away, but it’s something that’s on our minds.”

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The penalty kill is just as bad, allowing nine goals on 20 chances, and sits dead last in the NHL at 55 per cent.

FLOP GUNS

Knoblauch stacked his top line for the third game in a row with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Hyman and they continue to be just OK, far from the dominant force they’ve been in the past.

They were Edmonton’s second-best line in the previous two wins over Philadelphia and Nashville and, despite 22 minutes of ice time, didn’t produce anything Saturday until Draisaitl’s meaningless goal in the waning moments with Edmonton’s net empty and the score 3-0.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has just two assists in six games, one on the power play, the other six-on-five, while Evan Bouchard has one point on the season. Hyman has no goals and no assists in six games.

Viktor Arvidsson, Vasily Podkolzin and Derek Ryan are also searching for their first point and six of 12 Oilers forwards are still looking for their first goal as the power outage continues.

“If we keep going (to the net) and getting those chances around the net they’re going to fall,” said Hyman. “You can’t get frustrated, you have to keep going there and they’ll go in.”

STOPS AND STARTS

Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 23 shots for an .870 save percentage, which is an improvement from .845 through his first three starts of the season. The first Dallas goal that beat him wasn’t great and in the end Edmonton lost another goaltending battle.

When a team goes 57 minutes without a goal, sits 1-for-15 on the power play and is currently the lowest scoring team in the NHL, the last person you should be pointing fingers at is their keeper, but Skinner has to pick it up. His save percentages through four starts are .615, .893. 900 and .870.

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