The only two good things about that game were Stuart Skinner and getting the two points.
Edmonton sleep walked through the entire game and if not for a stellar performance by Stuart Skinner than the Oilers would have lost this game 5-2 or worst. Even at the end of the game, it was just fractions of an inch and a well placed post that prevented Calgary from tying it in the final seconds.
The above is a graph taken from NaturalStatTrick, simply put, it is a graph which shows possession change as a game goes on. The above was taken from the Oilers 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators back on December 13th. It was a game that the Oilers controlled play and outchanced Nasvhille for most of the game, but as you can see, possession and chances started going more Nashville's way into the third period. That's mainly a result of the Preds pushing for scoring chances and the Oilers defending their lead.
Now here is the map from last night's game.
No changes, no trending in the Oilers direction, just constant pressure by the Flames. After the game Jay Woodcroft dismissed a number of the Flames chances as part of their style of just firing pucks on net from anywhere. The overall scoring chances were 43-16 in favor of Calgary and the High Danger Chances were also heavily in their favor at 16-6. However you want to paint it, the Flames dominated the Oilers.
The best line for the Oilers was the Draisaitl, Foegele, and Yamamoto line as it finished with a 50CF% and 8-5 in scoring chances. Foegele and Yamamoto both were smartly aggressive and played fine in comparison to the remainder of the team and it's good to see Yamo come out on looking decent in a highly physical game.
A member of the media who will continue to remain anonymous wrote about how Darnell Nurse played one of his best games of the season and was a workhorse for the Oilers on the night, playing a ton of minutes. One of those things was true; he did play a ton of minutes... he just continued to flounder in that time, although much of that falls on the shoulders of Cody Ceci who continues to not look like he belongs in the top pairing anymore. The lone goal Calgary scored was a result of Nurse failing to pick of Backlund who should have been his man. Prior to that both he and Ceci had multiple chances to break of the cycle or get the puck out of the zone but failed to do so.
On that note, the Oilers are starting to look way too predictable in the offensive end and not just on the powerplay. So much of their play is done by circling the puck around on the boards. A defenseman will whip the puck down around and hope a forward will gain possession, who will then whip in behind the net, and then around the boards back to the defenseman.... and repeat. All it takes is for a stick to get in the way or the Oilers to lose a puck battle (which happened often last night) and the whole thing falls apart.
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Putting a break in here to talk about the McDavid and Weegar knee on knee hit. It was an ugly hit and I believe there should be at least a fine coming. McDavid is moving his feet and Weegar is the one who turns his leg out to try and stop Connor, resulting in the collision. I'm not going to debate with Flames fans on whether it should have been a 5 minute major but in my opinion it should have.
Worse than that (considering McDavid would be fine and play the remainder of the game) is that there was zero response by the Oilers. The silence was staggering after that play. Connor McDavid is your captain, the best player in the league, and just took a dirty hit from your divisional rival. The fact that no one came in after, not even to fight, but at bare minimum to get in Weegar's face was embarrassing. This team lacks the identity and the comradery to do such a thing which is wildly concerning to me. Evander Kane and his physical presence are missed but every player on that team should be wired to protect their teammates.
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Edmonton is set to play against another divisional opponent in the Seattle Kraken on Friday. The team will have two days to think of their abysmal performance, regroup and try again to figure something out. These are the games that the Oilers should come out the hardest for and look their best and the fact that they didn't against Calgary, a team they may not play against again until next season is something that the players, the coaching staff, and the fans should be furious about.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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