The Oilers have not looked very good so far this year; their 1-4-1 record speaks for itself. The question is, is it the goaltending that’s bad or the defending? I think the simple answer right now is that it’s both. We talked yesterday on the blog about how the Oilers’ only win this season came in the only game where they had a sv% greater than .900; all the other games were below that mark. The Oilers’ sv% last night? Not counting the empty net goal, Jack Campbell’s sv% was .800. This itself may point to goaltending as the problem; however, Campbell, going into the third period, had made 4 or 5 really tough/highlight reel saves for the Oilers, keeping them in the game. He was playing well, and the Oilers still allowed 7 goals last night to the Wild. If Jack Campbell was playing poorly, it could easily have been 10 or 11 goals for the Wild last night, way too many good chances given up by the Oilers in their own zone.
The wild scored 6 goals on Campbell last night, we’ll walk through each one quickly to see who’s to blame. Will it be more the defense? Or more the goaltending? Or is it likely both?
Goal #1
In this snapshot of the first goal you can see Marco Rossi deflecting the puck into the net from right in the crease. In an ideal world, Bouchard does a better job of boxing out Rossi so he doesn’t have a chance to get a stick on it. Here, Bouchard gets his stick in the way a little bit, but it’s too late to save the goal. Campbell was close, with quality goaltending, the read and react might be quick enough to get over and get a pad on the puck.
We’ll toss this one up as a tie, 1-1.
Goal #2
On this goal, Campbell can’t control the rebound and it bounces way too far in front of himself, so he can’t recollect it. Then Ryan Hartman is standing just outside the crease, ready to bang home the rebound. In an ideal world, Ekholm would be focused on tying up Hartman, but he saw the puck pop out in a dangerous area because his goalie couldn’t hold on to it. So, he goes into panic mode to try and clear, and it all falls apart.
Campbell should’ve been able to control his rebound 2-1 Campbell in the who’s to blame department.
Goal #3
There’s a lot going on here, the Wild come into the zone in transition so the Oilers are already a little lost at this point. Nurse is the only guy back with two Wild deep in the zone. The pass from the point comes over to Zuccarello in the corner and Nurse vacates his position defending Hartman in front of the net. On the replay, Jack Campbell read that first pass and was set to cover Zuccarello but Nurse decides quickly he can get there to block a shot. Zuccarello then makes a real nice pass off his skate directly to Hartman who is now left wide open in the slot to first home his second of the night.
Defense takes the mark on this one, Nurse should’ve stuck with his man, or another forward should’ve been back tracking one of Zuccarello or Hartman 2-2.
Goal #4
This one was ugly, Bouchard mishandles a puck and gives it up behind the net. The Wild send it straight out front for a tic-tac-toe play that finds its way into the back of the net so fast no one could even think to stop it. Bouchard needs to control the puck there; the forwards are getting ready for a breakout, and the other defenseman is along the wall waiting for a pass to start the breakout. Then, a turnover right behind your own net. Two slick passes, and Zuccarello puts it in with no one covering him in the prime slot position.
Another tough one for the defense. 3-2 for the defense in the responsibility department.
Goal #5
I think this still frame is pretty clear. Three Oilers on the outside and one Wild player all alone to score. Eriksson Ek makes a nice move to turn from behind the net and put the puck past Campbell. When watching the replay, RNH was covering Ek behind the net but then vanishes and reappears in a bad spot. Maybe that’s due to the zone coverage and confusion with that. Maybe it’s not necessarily the defense’s fault, but the Oilers’ defensive play as a whole is at fault here. You can’t let someone be that close with that much time and space. You are hanging your goalie out to dry.
Oilers defensive play takes the L on this one 4-2 for the defense.
Goal #6
A bad pinch in the neutral zone by Bouchard sent the Wild flying into the zone on a two-on-one, which Hartman finished. The way it went in, as Hartman kind of whiffed on it, makes you feel like Campbell should’ve had that. But in order for there to be a two-on-one like that, there has to be a defensive breakdown somewhere, and that was Bouchard’s bad pinch. Goalies are paid to stop pucks, and they do stop their fair share of two-on-ones. But I will never throw a goalie under the bus as being at fault when the pass makes it through and they have to sprawl out and try to get there. Someone should be there to help out, and they weren’t.
Another mark for the defense who take the loss 5-2.
Recap
Based on this game I’ve found the defense to be responsible for 4 of the goals, Campbell responsible for 1 of the goals, and a tie on one of the goals. That’s tough to see and I thought maybe it would be more 50/50 but the defense is sinking and they need to plug the hole quick. Through this exercise, we haven’t even mentioned Campbell’s save of the year candidate, which would’ve chalked up another bad point for the defense had it gone in.
Overall, Jack Campbell had a pretty good game. Ideally, you would want your $5 million goalie to make a few more saves, but that wasn’t the case. However, I think the defense is to blame for most of the goals against in the last game and needs to shape up in a big way if the Oilers are going to right the ship this season.
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