Edmonton Oilers Coach Todd McLellan Sounds off After Loss
Edmonton Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan Offers a Few Soundbites in his Post-Game Interview Following an Embarrassing 6-2 Loss to Buffalo At Home on Sunday Night. Did the Oilers Bench Boss Overreact?
Starting their season out with a 2-0-0 record, the Edmonton Oilers collected back to back wins against Alberta rival, Calgary Flames. Connor McDavid also made some early noise with consecutive three-point contests.
After an outstanding 120 minutes of play against the Flames, Captain Connor and company would play host to an Eichel-less Sabres team on Sunday (plus-5 goal differential on the young season).
60 minutes later following a 6-2 whooping, Oilers head coach Todd McLellan, was heated in his post-game interview and arguably overreacted.
Is it too early for the Oilers coaching staff and players to expect playoff performance and have playoff expectations? Certainly by the reaction of McLellan, you wouldn’t think so.
How Do the Edmonton Oilers Compare Across the League?
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From the goalie on out, Edmonton’s play on Sunday was ugly. There is no denying that. However, there are a lot of positives to came out of the first 3 games, and even out of the 6-2 loss.
The Oilers have doubled the league average in goals for with 14 total. However, they are 1 goal allowed away from doubling the league average in that category as well.
To the same point, the Oilers can thank their goal scoring again on the power play as they are well above the league average (19.73 percent) with a 27.27 percent conversion rate. Same old Oilers though? Their defense and penalty kill continue to hurt them as their PK currently sits at 78.57 percent (80.27% league average).
“You’ve got to be willing to look yourself in the mirror and know the mistakes you made in a game like this,” said Milan Lucic, “But it’s where you have to have short-term memory and turn the page and get ready to play the next one and bounce back. That’s what character teams do. That’s what winning teams do. That’s what teams that have identities do. It’s something that you have to build. It’s not something that just happens overnight. We’re still learning as a group. And I think today was a really good learning lesson on how not to play.”
The Edmonton Oilers will certainly need to look themselves in the mirror and answer the question of where they hope to be at the end of this 82 game season. If they truly want to battle for a playoff position, this team will need all hands on deck every night.
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