NHL: Drowning of oil workers continues. Jay Woodcroft sent off

VANCOUVER — Things still aren’t back on track for the Edmonton Oilers, who suffered their third straight loss on Monday night.

Despite putting 42 shots into the net, the Oilers were limited to just two goals in a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. With their 2-8-1 record, the Oilers remain 31st in the overall rankings, ahead of only the San Jose Sharks (0-10-1).

As if that wasn’t enough, coach Jay Woodcroft was ejected from the game with less than seven minutes left in the third period, in addition to being awarded a minor penalty. Earlier in the third period, Leon Draisaitl also received a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

“I asked a question about a play involving Dylan Holloway. It wasn’t insults, it was a poorly received question. Ultimately I have to be better, I can’t get a penalty. I’m not over the top, but sometimes The way you send the message is not received the way you expected.”

The Oilers’ problems in net continued as the team allowed at least four goals for the seventh time this season in 11 games. Despite his 29 saves, Stuart Skinner was unable to lead Edmonton to victory.

“You’ve heard me say this a million times: Our goalies wear the same jerseys as the rest of the team,” Woodcroft said. Are there times when our goalkeepers could be better? Yes. There are also times when a team can be better and players can also be better individually. Goalkeepers are often at the end of a series of mistakes. The attacker’s mistake can be saved. »

For his part, Connor McDavid was left off the scoresheet for the second time in his last three games. McDavid has collected at least one point in each of his last 17 games against the Canucks.

And in the Vancouver camp, things are still going well. The team has won seven of its last eight games and the Canucks are in the midst of a four-game winning streak.

Quinn Hughes, Pius Sutter, Brock Boeser (twice), Nils Hoglander and JT Miller all scored in the defeat.

Hughes finished the game with a goal and three assists. He now has 20 points this season, which places him second in the NHL record alongside Jack Hughes and Nikita Kucherov. Elias Pettersson led the way with an assist on the Canucks’ sixth goal.

“It was a team effort, we played really good hockey. We started slow, but then we took control of the game,” Hughes explained after the game.

Although they dominated 20-8 in shots on goal in the first period, the Oilers trailed 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.

“In the last two or three games, we have had good starts, but we always feel like we come back to the locker room late. It’s frustrating. We have to work harder to get the reward. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a bad start in my career,” he said. Matthias Ekholm: “It’s definitely a challenge, but we have the team to turn it around.”

The match started well for the Oilers, who opened the scoring after a few minutes of play in the first half. Ekholm took advantage of a smart pass from Sam Gagner to fire a powerful shot and score his first goal of the season.

But it all fell apart for Edmonton, which allowed three straight goals to Vancouver before the end of the opening period. Hughes scored his fifth goal for the first time this season when his attempted pass towards the slot was accidentally redirected into the back of the net by Vincent Desharnais.

Pius Sutter then fooled Stuart Skinner with a wrist shot that evaded the goalkeeper, before seeing Brock Boeser double the lead a few moments later by jumping on the return in the slot on the power play.

The Oilers then took advantage of a Thatcher Demko turnover midway through the second period to close the gap. After Demko made a poor play to get the ball to a teammate behind his net, Oilers forward Warren Foegele quickly recovered the ball and handed it off in front of the net to Draisaitl, who completed it in an open cage.

But Vancouver was keen to restore its two-goal lead before the end of the second half. Hoglander took advantage of a very generous return from Skinner to score his third goal of the season and make it 4-2.

Edmonton thought they had cut the deficit to 4-3 a minute into the third period, when Voegele pushed the puck into the back of the net during a huddle. However, a video replay showed that Voegele had intentionally pushed the puck with his skate and the decision was overturned.

Miller and Boeser completed the scoring with power play goals later in the third period.

In front of the Canucks net, Demko blocked 40 of the 42 shots directed his way.

The Oilers play their next game on Thursday against the Sharks, a duel between the two worst teams in the NHL. The Canucks will try to extend their success by taking on the Senators in Ottawa.