Sunday Scramble: Analysts describe concerning trend with Tristan Jarry, brutal week ahead for the Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers aren’t helping Tristan Jarry, and Tristan Jarry isn’t helping the Edmonton Oilers.

Both things are true. The Oilers are a puck-watching, golden-opportunity-leaking hockey team in front of him. Jarry is an anxious, unconfident goaltender right now.

Friday’s loss against the Carolina Hurricanes was his first start in nine days, a three-game pause to reset. Jarry made some big saves, like a glove save on Nikolaj Ehlers a minute in on a breakaway, and some toe stops through the second and third periods.

But the second and third goals against were not pretty. Despite a slight deflection off of Darnell Nurse, it’s not against the rules for a goaltender to stop a redirected puck. The fanned-on Jordan Martinook shot nubbed past him on the rebound was a calamity on multiple levels.

Overall, it’s 23 goals against on Jarry in his last five stops.

There’s been debate all season about what the bigger issue is: the defence or the goaltending?

My answer? Yes.

It’s both. It’s always been both. Jarry’s had moments where a routine save eludes him, like the point shot Olen Zellweger goal from the Ducks on February 25. The Oilers’ defence has moments where they get puck-watching, or simply tackle their own goaltender like Jake Walman.

They are in the proverbial sh*t together.

If you’re keeping score at home, the Oilers have allowed 56 goals in their last 12 games. And no, we didn’t Daylight Savings Time back to Dallas Eakins.

Coach Kris Knoblauch is on thin ice. The “Paul Coffey effect” remains to be seen.

‘Getting lit up’Concerns were not settled down by these reports from practice from last week. Here’s what Oilersnation’s Jason Gregor said on his show a few days ago:

“I watched practice yesterday, and I know it’s only practice, but I was watching drill after drill and Jarry was getting lit up in practice. I haven’t seen a goalie give up that many goals for awhile,” said Gregor. 

“Now maybe he’s working on something else, so it’s just about positioning, or making the stops at this point, we’ll see. But I think Pete Aubry, the goalie coach, you’ve got some work here to get Jarry into a position they can rely on.” 

“I watched practice yesterday, and I know it’s only practice… Jarry was getting lit up.”

The @JasonGregor Show brought to you by L’OCA Quality Market.

Then Oilers Now’s Bob Stauffer said this on the air on Friday:

“There’s some extraneous things that have me quite concerned with Tristan…I can read between the lines of what was going on the ice yesterday in practice. There seemed to be some [expletives] flying. I didn’t like that Jarry, when the Oilers lost 7-3 to Minnesota, talked about how the team is playing defensively in front of him,” said Stauffer. 

“I watched him yesterday in practice, and he was getting beat in practice, and finally one of the leaders, you could see him [say], ‘You’ve got to push it more.’ And it’s both goalies. And that’s concerning.”

They are concerned. I am concerned.

Jarry looked like a calm and poised netminder for two-and-a-half games when acquired by the Oilers. Since then, he’s a shell of himself. He’s started five games at home at won just once, but it’s two wins when you account for coming in relief for Connor Ingram against Washington on January 24.

‘Tough sledding’

Another ex-Oiler quote that makes you go hmmm.

Andrew Mangiapane, who carried negative value as a trade asset, arrived in Chicago to restart his NHL career.

“It was a little tough sledding there in Edmonton. I’m happy to get out and have a nice restart and be with a good organization here.”

Andrew Mangiapane on joining the Blackhawks: “It was a little tough sledding there in Edmonton. I’m happy to get out and have a nice restart and be with a good organization here.”

On the face of it, these comments aren’t alarming in a vacuum. It was tough sledding for him in Edmonton, and for the team as a whole. However, lumped in with what Troy Stecher, Stuart Skinner, and Derek Ryan have all said in the past few months, and it hints toward dysfunction.

Mix in these reports about Jarry, and you have to wonder what chaos is happening below the surface here.

For extra oomph, Viktor Arvidsson has 18 goals in 50 games this season. Just sayin’.

Buckle in, folks. The Oilers are trending to miss the playoffs if they continue to play this way, with the volume of goals pouring into their net, and losing six of their last eight. 

In terms of actual opponents, tonight is game two of a hellacious four-game stretch. It’s five if you include the Blues being at the end of a back-to-back on Friday, where the Oilers already lost this season.  

An Oilers game has not had fewer than seven total goals since January 20 against the New Jersey Devils, a 2-1 defeat. I hope you’ve been using your Bet365 accounts wisely with that information.

The Sharks are on the outside looking in, but are two points back of the Oilers with two games in hand.

Overall, they play eight games in the next 14 nights. Yikes. 

Hand, meet switch. Flip, baby, flip.

Record this week: 1-1 Record vs Pacific: 9-5-3 Road record vs Pacific: 3-5-1 Road record overall: 14-14-4 

This week: 

Away vs Vegas on SundayAway vs Colorado on TuesdayAway vs Dallas on Thursday Away vs St. Louis on Friday Trade DeadlineSome quick hitter thoughts about the Trade Deadline. I also did an instant reaction column you can read here.Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday Headlines that the St. Louis Blues gave permission for Patrick Roy and Mathieu Darche of the New York Islanders to meet with Brayden Schenn one-on-one to try and get him to waive. In a great moment of deadline happenstance, the two teams were staying at the same hotel while the deadline was going on. Schenn, of course, decided to waive.I’m not sure I see the fit for the Islanders long-term. He does fit the Islanders mold of the past decade, though. Aging, slowing down, still productive but not like he was before. ‘GM Doug Armstrong had a hissy-fit about the Colton Parayko trade that was nixed to Buffalo. “We did some due diligence as soon as that happened. We checked the phone records of all of our staff, texts and emails and everybody passed the test, not surprisingly.” Armstrong’s next move? Tapping his staff’s phones.Parayko’s rebuff of Buffalo indicates the Sabres haven’t turned the corner yet in the eyes of the league. They’ve been a sensational story and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first in the Atlantic, turning the corner instantaneously after the firing of Kevyn Adams. For the long-term, at least one player has publicly indicated, no thanks.The team I was watching closely was the Carolina Hurricanes, who’s only addition was getting a fighter and sometimes player in Nic Deslauriers. They’re tied with Dallas for second-most points in the NHL. Is there not a burning compulsion to go for it? For a team as consistently great in the regular season as they are, they have not won a Conference Final game in the Brind’Amour era. Apparently, the price for Vincent Trocheck was “too high” in their eyes, according to Friedman.But do we trust the Hurricanes as a legitimate favourite in the Eastern Conference? You’re going to sit with your buddies before your playoff drafts and be like, we can’t actually pick ‘Canes players, can we?The Minnesota Wild bolstered up. Again, they’ve lost seven straight playoff rounds. Until I see otherwise, it’ll be eight straight, with the preordained matchup against the Dallas Stars known since November. The playoff format is broken.God damn the Colorado Avalanche’s centre depth is scary. The Oilers will see it up-close and personal on Tuesday.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.

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