If you are looking for a metaphor on two seasons, look no further than the Tuesday night match between the Chicago Blackhawks and their hosts, the Edmonton Oilers.
Trailing 2-1 heading to the third period, the Blackhawks reeled off five unanswered goals in a 6-2 whacking of the Oilers.
The win was the fifth straight for the Hawks while the Oilers lost their sixth straight.
“It is nice to keep this roll going and finally turn things a bit,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We have a bit of momentum and we are playing well. When you have the momentum and keep playing well, you usually get the results. We just need to keep pushing and we will get our points.”
The Hawks remain underwater at 21-24-9 but are going in the right direction.
John Hayden, Dylan Strome, Patrick Kane, Drake Caggiula and Dominik Kahun struck in the third period for Chicago.
On the other hand, no amount of coaching changes or Connor McDavid calling out players who may not want to be in the Oilers locker room can correct what is an ugly situation in Edmonton.
Cam Ward made 25 saves to get the victory.
Leon Draisaitl scored both goals for the Oilers.
“Same type of thing as the last couple of games; we control a lot of the first two [periods], and then go to sleep in the third,” McDavid said. “I’m not sure what that is.”
Maybe no one wants to be in Edmonton, that needs to be considered because everyone seems to be playing for an escape.
“It was not our best effort, not even close to being good enough,” said Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom said, who returned after missing 21 games with a broken finger. “We left our goalies out to dry multiple times. It’s not good enough, simple as that.”
Edmonton dropped to 23-25-5.
“The power play was good, that’s about it. We had a few chances, but we collapsed again,” Draisaitl said. “We just collapsed. We turned the puck over and collapsed. That’s it.”
Erik Gustafsson also scored for the Blackhawks.
[WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Oilers highlights]
Cam Talbot got the start and was pulled after the Hawks’ fourth goal of the game; he made 23 saves.
“We weathered the storm after two, they were coming pretty hard at us in the second. They were building their game and we started strong and went the other way. I didn’t see the third period coming, but we paid for not managing the puck,” Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock said after the loss.
Mikko Koskinen relieved Talbot and was left as defenseless as any goalie in Edmonton can be.
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