Edmonton Oilers Choke Away Lead, Lose To Chicago Blackhawks in Overtime

Ah, what could have been.

If only the previously hot Nikolai Khabibulin hadn’t allowed two soft goals to allow the Chicago Blackhawks to tie and then defeat the Edmonton Oilers last night. If only one of Nail Yakupov‘s shots hadn’t gone off the post when he had Ray Emery beat.

If only.

Last night’s loss was disappointing for the Oilers and there’s no two ways about it. They have grown sick of moral victories, so this won’t even register as one. They had the lead and squandered it. The Blackhawks were playing their third game in four nights and were tired, yet the Oilers couldn’t take advantage of that.

They knew what was at stake at the start of a nine-game road trip and they still could not get the job done. This is a microcosm for how their season has gone so far: plenty of talent, plenty of opportunities to succeed, needing to make good on those opportunities–and failing to do so.

Until the Oilers learn how to play even-strength hockey, they are going to keep on losing. Everyone knows their power play and penalty kill units are deadly, so all opponents have to do is take as few penalties as possible against the Oilers and they are likely to win. The Blackhawks gave up a power play goal and a shorthanded goal last night and they still managed to win because they knew how to bend, but not break, against the Oilers.

Despite this liability, however, they actually did a fair number of things right last night. They took fewer penalties than Chicago, had more hits, won more faceoffs and didn’t give the puck away more than the Blackhawks did. But they struggled once again to take shots and the Blackhawks aren’t exactly a bunch of defensive stalwarts either. They might be a bit stronger than Edmonton, but they fly up and down the ice like they’re at a track meet, like Edmonton. There is no excuse for the Oilers getting outshot 34-19.

The Oilers could have won last night, but they gave the game away. Here’s hoping they can get back to playing fundamentally sound hockey when they play the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Thursday.

I wouldn’t bet on that happening, given their history versus Dallas, but here’s hoping nonetheless.