So far, neither Edmonton Oilers goalie has looked good. Who should start Saturday night against the Seattle Kraken?On Tuesday, Tristan Jarry let in six goals, then Devon Levi let in seven goals on Thursday. It couldn’t have started worse for Edmonton’s goaltending tandem against the Vancouver Canucks. Levi has the worst save percentage in the NHL at .682, and Jarry hasn’t had a good game for Edmonton for a while. However, it’s not just the two goalies who played poorly in the first two games; many of the Oilers underperformed. Now the team has a big decision to make about their netminders for their next game against the Kraken.Give Jarry the creaseJarry is the only veteran goalie the Oilers have right now. Frederik Andersen is recovering from an injury from last year’s playoffs and won’t be ready until December at the earliest. Levi is still new to the NHL and on a brand new team. It’s time to ease him gently into the Oilers lineup and give the bulk of the starts to his partner. Jarry has looked a bit better than Levi and says confidence is his main issue. If that’s true, he can still overcome a poor first game and get back on track.The bigger issue is team defenceEdmonton has a bigger problem than goaltending. Babcock’s tight team defence has only lasted for thirty or forty minutes each game. The Oilers’ defence should be good if the players play up to their potential. Jake Walman was -3 five-on-five, and Shakir Mukhamadullin was -4 five-on-five in Game 2 against Vancouver. Both those players have a lot more to give. At the same time, the defensive play of the forwards has got to improve.

The porous team defence is leaving the goaltenders out to dry. Have Jarry and Levi been poor? Yes. But there is more to it. When the whole team commits to defence, the goalies will look a lot better. Both games were bizarre; the ice was heavily tilted, and the Oilers should have blown out the Canucks. Sometimes goalies play better when they face a lot of rubber. Jarry and Levi were spectators for much of the first two games and appeared to not find any rhythm.

At this point, Edmonton should play Jarry for the majority of the games. If either goaltender can cut the goals against to two or three, it will be a huge improvement.

Let’s see which way the Oilers decide to go.

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