The Oilers have a goaltending problem

The Edmonton Oilers welcomed us all back in classic Oily fashion.

They gave us a glimmer of hope Tuesday night, and then left us with nothing at all. Despite holding two separate two-goal leads, the Oilers managed to leave Anaheim with nothing but a bitter taste. Arguably with more questions as to why the team is failing.

The one question over the break — one I didn’t want to believe — is that the Oilers have a goaltending problem. Depending on which side of the fence you’ve stood on, maybe you’d say they never got rid of it. Unfortunately, Tristan Jarry put together another lacklustre performance, allowing five goals on 25 shots for an .800 save percentage, dropping his numbers to a .863 save percentage and a 3.85 goals against average in his time in Edmonton.

That eventually led to him sitting on the bench for the final 13 minutes. This wasn’t a mercy pull from Kris Knoblauch. This was a you give me no chance to win this game pull. Ruthless from Knoblauch, but what else was he supposed to do?

“I wasn’t happy with the goaltending, especially in the third period,” said Knoblauch after the game. “There were other mistakes there, but you need better goaltending.”

Short and sweet from the coach. 

Jarry called out the team following a 7-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on January 31st, two games before the Olympic break. 

“The chances we are giving up are tough,” said Jarry after allowing five goals at home to the Wild. “It’s a lot of grade A chances, breakdowns, so it’s tough to really think about your own game at this point. It’s a whole team game.

“We want to play up and in their end. When we are taking some of those chances, they’re coming back at us. It’s tough. We need to make sure we are managing the puck a little better.”

He walked back on those comments after his next start. That was because he was dreadful against the Flames, too, allowing four goals.

“It’s tough,” said Jarry, again after another loss. 

It’s pretty simple in Jarry’s case. He needs to be better, and that needs to start immediately. He’s won only two of his eight starts since returning from injury on January 13th, and has allowed three or fewer goals twice. 

Edmonton had a stranglehold on that game. Scoring twice within the final two minutes of the second period put them in a good spot for a strong start to the road trip. Instead, your goaltender collapses, conceding three goals with an expected goals against of 0.46.

“They (the team) need to know what they’re getting every night,” said Devan Dubnyk on Oilersnation Everyday, before yesterday’s game against the Ducks. “You don’t have to look at stats and say he needs a 0.920SV% every night. Some games, if it’s a little crazier, it might be four or five against, but you don’t want that many when it should’ve only been two or three.”

Consistency and unpredictability are major flaws right now. You don’t know what you’re getting shot to shot, nevermind game to game. 

Obviously, other players had terrible nights too. Darnell Nurse is right up there with Jarry. However, Jarry was brought in to be this team’s starting goaltender until the Connor McDavid contract, at least. Now the conversation has shifted to when his next start will come.

The problem is Jarry. The solution is also Jarry. He’s more than capable of turning this around. Hopefully, he can regain his composure and stay in control more in-game. 

If not, then this trade might go down as one of the worst in Oilers history.