Oilers Seek Response in Utah After First Regulation Loss

The Edmonton Oilers have an immediate opportunity to address the problems behind their first regulation defeat. Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth ended a five-game winning streak. Saturday’s rematch brings the same opponent and a specific question for Edmonton: can it change the special-teams result without asking Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to play still more minutes?

The rematch is Saturday, October 17, at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, with puck drop at 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet.

Edmonton enters at 5-1-1 and has won all four of its road games. Utah is 6-2-0, has won three straight and is 2-0-0 at home. One of those unbeaten records will end Saturday, an additional point of interest beyond the chance to split this home-and-home series.

Thursday also changed the history of this matchup. Edmonton had been 5-0-1 against the Mammoth, with a 31-16 scoring advantage, The Canadian Press reported. Utah had lost all three of its previous visits to Rogers Place, where it had been outscored 17-5. The Mammoth now have a recent result to place alongside those earlier defeats.

The special-teams difference was measurable

Utah went 2-for-3 on the power play Thursday, according to the Deseret News. Edmonton finished 0-for-2. The final score was separated by two goals, although one of Utah’s goals went into an empty net. Edmonton remained within one goal until that late insurance marker.

Barrett Hayton opened the scoring at 10:38 of the first period after Kailer Yamamoto’s initial opportunity was stopped. Clayton Keller made it 2-0 at 11:57 of the second. Those goals put Edmonton in pursuit before its leading forwards had produced their first scoring play.

Logan Cooley’s between-the-legs pass set up Keller’s power-play goal.

Utah’s report records two Edmonton power-play shots. The teams finished level at 24 shots apiece.

That comparison narrows the task for the rematch. Edmonton does not have to explain a huge gap in the final shot count. It has to address the effectiveness of the opportunities created with an extra skater and the penalties that gave Utah its own chances. The two power plays produced sharply different returns from a similar number of opportunities.

Babcock has already identified the workload problem

“We needed our big boys, obviously. I played them too much,” Mike Babcock said after the loss, as reported by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. McDavid played 25:52, Draisaitl 23:00 and Evan Bouchard 27:03. McDavid logged more ice time than any Utah player.

McDavid’s workload exceeded 43 percent of regulation time; Bouchard’s was more than 45 percent.

The same three Oilers combined for 10 shots and the Draisaitl goal, Sportsnet reported. Against Edmonton’s total of 24 shots, that amounts to nearly 42 percent of its shots coming from two forwards and one defenseman. The contribution was substantial, but it still left the team behind throughout the game.

The available roster explains part of Babcock’s decision. Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie were among Edmonton’s missing forwards. Babcock said the injuries had given other players opportunities to establish whether they could contribute, while acknowledging that Utah had the deeper available team Thursday.

His assessment also means that simply extending the stars’ shifts is an unsatisfactory response to the defeat. Edmonton already tried that while chasing the game. The useful comparison Saturday will be what the other forwards contribute before the score starts determining the coach’s rotation again.

McDavid’s assist Thursday extended his point streak to all seven games and moved him to 18 points, including four goals and 14 assists, The Canadian Press reported. His production has continued through the injury shortage. The rematch is consequently a test of what Edmonton can add around that output.

Cooley’s answer prevented Edmonton from drawing level

The most costly sequence for Edmonton came immediately after Draisaitl’s second-period goal. His finish at 13:54 made it 2-1; only 23 seconds later, Cooley redirected Vincent Trocheck’s pass to restore the two-goal margin. The Canadian Press identified that exchange as the game’s key moment. Cooley’s goal ultimately stood as the winner.

This was the second successive game in which Cooley and Vincent Trocheck combined on a similar scoring play. Against Toronto on Tuesday, Cooley supplied the setup and Trocheck finished. On Thursday, Trocheck returned the favor. Their combination gives the rematch a second attacking partnership to follow alongside Keller and Nick Schmaltz.

Keller scored twice Thursday and Schmaltz had two assists, The Canadian Press reported. Hayton also scored and extended his point streak to five games. Those contributions spread the threat: Edmonton cannot focus exclusively on the two-goal scorer while overlooking the players supplying chances or producing elsewhere in Utah’s lineup.

McDavid’s description of the opponent reflected that problem. “They play four lines,” he said in comments carried by The Canadian Press. He praised Utah’s balance and speed rather than isolating one scorer. The Mammoth were able to present a fuller lineup against an opponent missing several regular contributors.

Utah also survived a difficult late shift with its fourth line trapped on the ice, the Deseret News reported. Edmonton could not turn that extended possession into the tying goal. The Mammoth’s depth therefore mattered while protecting their lead as well as when creating it.

“We like how hard we were to play against and how hard we defended,” André Tourigny said, according to the Deseret News. Utah’s successful finish gives that assessment a concrete setting: it protected a one-goal advantage against Edmonton’s strongest available attack before Keller’s empty-net goal.

Jarry starts while Edmonton awaits reinforcements

The Oilers list Hyman, Colton Dach and Jake Walman as possible returns. Their participation remains unconfirmed.

Tristan Jarry is scheduled to start, a decision Babcock disclosed after Thursday’s game and which Sportsnet reported. The change comes after Devon Levi took his first loss with Edmonton.

Jarry’s previous start produced a 3-1 win at San Jose, with 19 saves, according to Edmonton’s official road-trip review.

His season record entering the rematch is 1-0-1. Utah’s Thursday preview listed a 3.46 goals-against average and .837 save percentage for him.

That is a two-game sample, including an overtime result. The win in San Jose is the more relevant recent example of Edmonton limiting the amount of work required from him. A start against the same opponent that just beat Levi also gives the coaches a direct look at how their team responds in front of a different goalie.

The winning streak provides context for the response

McDavid had four points in the 4-1 win at Los Angeles on Tuesday. Vasily Podkolzin scored twice and Draisaitl also scored.

That recent success is why Thursday should be examined as a specific defeat rather than treated as evidence that the entire opening stretch was misleading. Edmonton earned points in its first six games. The current problem is that Utah found a way to stop that run while continuing a strong start of its own.

The Mammoth have won consecutive games against Toronto and Edmonton. Cooley described the Edmonton victory as evidence of what Utah can accomplish when it plays committed hockey, in comments carried by The Canadian Press. His confidence has a relevant test immediately: the same opponent, with the same dangerous top-end talent, returns Saturday.

For Edmonton, the difference to watch is where the next opportunity comes from. Thursday supplied a Draisaitl goal and another from Shakir Mukhamadullin, but no power-play goal. Saturday offers a chance to change that distribution before another long night of elevated minutes becomes necessary. For Utah, protecting the lead and producing through different combinations has already worked once in this series.