{"id":951983,"date":"2026-11-04T06:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951983\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:28:09","slug":"oilers-continue-to-look-like-different-team-despite-loss-to-speedy-devils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951983\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers continue to look like different team despite loss to speedy Devils"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014\u00a0Eight good periods out of nine. Two wins in three games. Five points out of a possible six.<\/p>\n

If this is as bad as it gets for the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> \u2014\u00a0getting buckled in the second period of a 4-3 shootout loss against the fast and furious New Jersey Devils \u2014\u00a0then life can\u2019t be so bad for the last team in the National Hockey League without a regulation loss on the road (7-0-1).<\/p>\n

As the Oilers fly home from their annual New York roadie, they continue to look like an entirely different team under head coach Mike Babcock. With a four-game homestand beginning Thursday, Edmonton has never-before-seen structure, excellent goaltending, and an 11-2-3 record that\u2019s good for second place in the NHL\u2019s overall standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe details of what we are, and what we’re about, are there. The work ethic \u2014 the expectation to be heavy and physical and be fast \u2014\u00a0are there,\u201d assessed third-line centre Jason Dickinson. \u201cSometimes the execution is missing in puck play and decision making, and that’s probably where we could really tidy things up.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this night the power play returned with two goals, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins<\/a> had 1-1-2 on the night he became the all-time longest serving Oiler (1,038 games), and Tristan Jarry authored a point-saving performance, stopping 31 shots in his best game of the season.<\/p>\n

Nugent-Hopkins\u2019 linemates Kasperi Kapanen (two assists) and Colton Dach were both excellent, again, while Ryan Shea gave his team a crucial shot block that denied Jack Hughes his hat trick goal and afforded a comeback after trailing 3-1 to grab the shootout point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve made a lot of progress. We’re finding more and more players,\u201d Babcock said. \u201cI mean, Dacher is getting to be a good player for us, an important piece night after night. Nuge getting back, he looks good. Our third and fourth line\u2026 I thought our fourth line tonight played hard. We’re not as good as we need to be in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

That third line that Babcock didn\u2019t love was Dickinson between Alex Formenton and Mathieu Joseph. It\u2019s been a good unit most nights, but couldn\u2019t help stem the tide of a relentless Devils push in Period 2, when New Jersey outshot Edmonton 15-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it falls on guys like myself to turn that tide,\u201d said Dickinson, who has played in just seven of 16 games this season due to injury. \u201cWhen we get out there, to be extra hard. Be extra diligent with the puck play, so that we can turn the tide and we can get that momentum back for the group. Give everybody else something to lean on to go out there and keep rolling with what we’ve put out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton led 1-0 after 20 minutes on an Evan Bouchard bomb. But it all fell apart in the second 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were fine in the first. we were better than fine in the third,\u201d Babcock said. \u201cIn the second, I don’t know what was going on there, but they were way better than us. Waaaay faster than us. We just kept turning it over, changing, and yelling, \u2018Here (they) come again!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel fortunate to get a point here tonight. They were better than us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oilers have now lost five in a row to the Devils, dating back three seasons. But they\u2019ve also gone five consecutive games without allowing a first period goal, outscoring opponents 14-2 in the opening frame on the road this season.<\/p>\n

Connor McDavid<\/a>, Leon Draisaitl (13th goal) and Evan Bouchard (1-1-2) have combined for 97 points this season and sit one-two-three atop the NHL scoring race. With 31 assists, McDavid still has more assists than anyone else in the NHL has points.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t a night everyone walked into talking about McDavid. He was good but not great, while stretching his NHL record for assists in consecutive games to open a season to 16.<\/p>\n

On a day that began with a team salute to Nugent-Hopkins, including some video tributes from former teammates like Jordan Eberle and Darnell Nurse, he had the game on his stick in a chance to close this game in the shootout. Alas, it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n

Connor Hellebuyck turned him aside, and the Oilers lost their second straight shootout. Still they\u2019ve got points in seven of their last eight games, and an impressive 14 of 16 games this season,<\/p>\n

\u201cThey skate well,\u201d Draisaitl said of the Devils. \u201cTheir puck movement makes them makes them fast, and then they\u2019ve got the legs to go with it. So yeah, they’re a good team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the consistency part of it,\u201d he said of Edmonton\u2019s overall game. \u201cOther than the second period today, which was not our best, we’re trending in a good direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jarry\u2019s shutout sequence ended at 153:59, the fifth longest in franchise history. The longest belongs to Tommy Salo (192:52 \u2013 Mar. 2-11, 2001) \u2026 With the new time zone situation, Edmonton stayed overnight here rather than fly home post-game, the way they would have a year ago. They\u2019ll fly home Wednesday, and have a full morning skate before Thursday\u2019s game against Anaheim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWARK, N.J. \u2014\u00a0Eight good periods out of nine. Two wins in three games. Five points out of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-951983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}