When even the coach comes out in his press conference and says “We played terrible tonight”, I don’t think I have to go much farther than that.
They had an opportunity to make up ground, and they blew it. The Oilers had a chance to play spoiler, and embraced it.
The Oilers came out and took an early lead on the power play, Steve Mason struggled (though to be honest, for the trouble he was having, I think the guys in front of him deserve just as much blame), and the bright lights on the night were Scottie Upshall continuing to impress (Dear Mr. Howson – please back up the Money Truck to his agent’s door), Matt Calvert continuing to be the Little Engine that Did, and Mathieu Garon giving a good relief effort, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the hole the team put themselves in.
There are people who say this was the end of the team’s season. I disagree.
It was a bad game, against a team that plays a style that the Jackets simply are not able to cope with, on some of the worst ice conditions I’ve seen this year, and everything that could go wrong (without serious bodily injury) did.
What it DOES mean is that the team has their backs firmly against the wall for the rest of the road trip…and to make matters worse, they’ll play Calgary tonight, so there will be no time for the coaching staff to try and really work on the problems they found last night.