The Shine is off the Ken Hitchcock rose in Edmonton.
On Saturday night, his Oilers lost, 3-2, to the visiting Arizona Coyotes.
Conor Garland struck twice for the Coyotes.
Darcy Kuemper got the win for the Yotes over the Oilers – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
“That was a good, grind-out win,” Garland said. “It got tight late and they have some dangerous players that can strike at any time, so to keep them in check was pretty good.”
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for the victory.
“I thought everybody contributed tonight, there was no passengers,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “After we scored those two goals we could tell we got a little more confidence. We rolled the four lines and everybody contributed tonight.”
The Coyotes improved to 20-21-3 and are just two points behind the Oilers in the ladder chase.
That is unacceptable if you are Oilers management; they are 21-21-3 on the season and no number of coaching changes is going to impact the on-ice product.
Connor McDavid and Kris Russell scored for the Oilers.
“Offensively, I thought we generated more chances than we have in the past,” McDavid said. “They just worked hard and stayed above everyone with tight checking.”
Jordan Oesterle also scored for Arizona.
“We put it all together what we’ve been working on the last two weeks now,” Oesterle said. “We played a good game in Vancouver [4-3 road win in overtime Thursday] and we were able to come through and put it through and win it in regulation, which felt good. Seeing Garland score two was nice.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Oilers highlights]
Cam Talbot made 26 saves in the loss.
“It seems to be the story of the last few games, but at this point there are no more excuses. We have to be better. We can’t allow those bounces to beat us every night. We just have to play better,” Talbot said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.