‘Freebie’ goal costs Oilers in loss to Mammoth

The Edmonton Oilers won’t be pushed around.

In some circumstances, that is.

They showed their moxie on Thursday night, refusing to let the Utah Mammoth take shots on their top players. It resulted in more than a few scrums throughout the night, but where the Oilers couldn’t push back was defensively, leading to the team losing their first game in regulation of the season.

One of Utah’s four goals in its 4-2 win, specifically, caught the ire of Oilers head coach Mike Babcock.

It saw Vincent Trocheck drive wide and low on Ty Emberson into the Oilers zone, but the battle was lost in front of the net by six-foot-five tree Shakir Mukhamadullin, who looked like a shrub as Logan Cooley outmuscled him to get a stick on a pass, deflecting it past Oilers netminder Devon Levi.

“Yeah, that one was ugly, can’t let him get to the net,” said Babcock of the goal scored late in the second period. “I mean, just deflect him, and he doesn’t get to the net. That was a freebie.”

Utah’s first saw former Oiler Kailer Yamamoto will his way through Evan Bouchard, driving a puck to the net, eventually setting up a rebound that Barrett Hayton cleaned up. It’s second, a rough bounce. Despite Connor Murphy getting a stick on a pass through the middle of the ice, the puck still found its way to Cooley, who set up Clayton Keller with a no-doubter.

“But the third one kills you because you can’t give that up,” Babcock continued, “that’s a freebie.”

Edmonton, who was down another forward Thursday with Jason Dickinson getting shaken up during the morning skate, wasn’t just going to roll over. The aforementioned scrums ignited in the second period, catalyzed by Mammoth centre Jack McBain’s dangerous hit-from-behind on Leon Draisaitl. The response was swift, as Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard jumped him, leading to an all-out frenzy.

Maybe McBain didn’t like the goal Draisaitl had scored minutes earlier, which made it 2-1, as he slid a nifty give-and-go with McDavid through Mammoth netminder Karel Vejmelka’s five-hole.

In all, it was another night where Babcock had to let the big dogs bark. McDavid played 25:52, Draisaitl 23:00, Podkolzin 22:13, Bouchard 27:03. The score — and injuries — dictated it. Simply put, he didn’t have a choice.

“It has to stop,” Babcock said. “I look at it every night, and I go, ‘ What the heck am I doing?’ But I’m also trying to survive right now.

“A lot of our other guys have done a phenomenal job for us. We’re in a good spot right now, and I’m just hoping that we bought enough time to get some guys (back from injury).”

The good news for the Oilers is they’ll get a chance to exact revenge on the Mammoth in short order, travelling to Utah to face them Saturday night. And with fists flying in Edmonton as the UFC coming to town, we might see some fists fly south of the border in the rubber match.

Ice chips…

• Dickinson’s absence from Thursday night’s game wasn’t related to the ankle injury suffered last year that flared up, causing him to miss the first three games of the season, said Babcock: “He’s not out because of the ankle, so I’m not concerned about his ankle. So we can put that to bed.”
• While Mukhamadullin cost the Oilers on the third goal against, he did get one back in the third, which was good to see. A point shot careened off Mammoth defenceman Andrew Peeke and in. Despite taking heat from Babcock for his goal against, he played a season-high 13:58.
• The order of Oilers players to return from injury, according to Frank Seravalli: Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Colton Dach, then Matt Savoie. Will Hyman draw in Saturday?
• Tristan Jarry gets the start Saturday.