As painful as last night’s 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild may have been to get through, there is one thing fans of the Edmonton Oilers simply cannot lose sight of. This team is not very good. They were not very good under Dallas Eakins and the same holds true under Todd Nelson.
Heading into last night’s game against the Boston Bruins, all anyone wanted to talk about was who Claude Julien would be starting in goal. After starting Tuukka Rask in fourteen consecutive games and twenty-three of the Bruins last twenty-four outings, word on the street was they were considering going with youngster Malcolm Subban against the Edmonton Oilers.
While the Dallas Eakins Era did not last very long, suggesting the former Toronto Marlies head coach was the main reason the Edmonton Oilers struggled to the degree they did during his one hundred and twelve games behind the bench would be more than a bit of stretch.
Hockey Day in Canada has traditionally not been kind to the Edmonton Oilers and Saturday’s afternoon tilt against the Ottawa Senators was no different. After stringing together three consecutive solid outings in the midst of a season-high six game road trip, Todd Nelson’s crew laid an egg in our nation’s capital in dropping a 7-2 decision.
The loss saw the Oilers record fall to 3-9-3 during Hockey Night in Canada’s annual event and they have now posted a dreadful 1-6-1 mark in their eight appearances on CBC’s weekly broadcast in 2014-15.
Despite holding their own against an Eastern Conference powerhouse for a second consecutive outing, it looked as though the Edmonton Oilers were going to have to settle for nothing more than another hard fought loss against the Montreal Canadiens.
