The Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning both hold postseason expectations, but they find themselves heading in opposite directions following the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
In their second matchup this season, the teams will square off Tuesday night in Tampa to conclude their season series.
On Dec. 10 in Edmonton, the Oilers won the first meeting 2-1 by leaning on superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for their scoring.
However, the Oilers’ season-long five-game road trek to the East has started off disastrously. Their active three-game losing skid matches their longest of the season that started the campaign.
In blowout losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals in a weekend back-to-back set, the Pacific Division’s second-place club had two chances to catch the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.
Yet it struggled mightily in the defensive end and was outscored 13-6, surrendering the baker’s dozen tallies over 66 shots, including empty-net goals by Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
In a battle of elite scorers, Ovechkin was better than McDavid and Draisaitl in Sunday’s 7-3 win, recording his 32nd career hat trick to the Edmonton duo’s combined one goal and one assist to send the Oilers south to the Sunshine State in a dark mood.
“Just get back to work,” said McDavid, who has 22 goals and 50 assists in 51 games. “Sometimes this happens after breaks. Some teams come out flying, some come out flat. We’ve obviously been the latter, so (we have) got to get back to our game.”
During its three-game losing streak, Edmonton’s game has been leaky in the crease.
Goaltender Calvin Pickard started and lost twice — to the Colorado Avalanche before the break and to the Capitals on Sunday. He combined to surrender eight goals on 52 shots.
Stuart Skinner allowed a total of eight goals on 43 shots in a relief appearance against Colorado and the 6-3 setback in Philadelphia.
Facing the Lightning, who are one of three clubs along with the Capitals and Winnipeg Jets to score 200 goals thus far, may not be the best medicine for what ails the Edmonton defense.
Tampa Bay showed rust in its first post-break game Sunday night against Seattle with multiple turnovers and fumbled passes galore, but after 60 minutes the club had captured a season-high fifth straight win.
Coach Jon Cooper, who led Team Canada to a 3-2 championship win in the 4 Nations, said it was good that his three Lightning players — Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli — had a little time to prepare for the season’s resumption.
“Thank goodness we had at least one day (off) before starting play,” Cooper said after his team beat the Kraken 4-1. “To come back here and there’s no rest for the weary. There was a bug going around the tournament. (Hagel) picked it up here and we weren’t even sure he was going to play.”
Hagel provided the spark Sunday, snapping a scoreless tie with his third short-handed tally and the team’s 10th overall, the second-most in the league.
“It’s a credit to his will and want to win hockey games, whether it’s for the Bolts or Team Canada,” Cooper added.
Riding a 6-0-1 mark in his past seven starts, Andrei Vasilevskiy (26-15-3, 2.29 goals-against average, .920 save percentage) is expected to be in net against Edmonton.
