Mike Babcock pinned the Oilers' leaky start on himself Friday, one day after benching Jake Walman during a wild win in Vancouver.
"I think it's coaching," Babcock said after practice, and then he said it again. Noble words. They also give cover to a blue line that hasn't earned much of it.
The Oilers have scored 14 goals and allowed 13 heading into tonight's game against the Seattle Kraken. That's a lot of offence for a +1 goal differential.
The defenceman wore the worst of it Thursday. He was parked on the bench for a stretch of the 9-7 win and finished minus-3.
That's a hard look for a player carrying a $7,000,000 cap hit. Expensive blueliners are supposed to calm the game down, not need a timeout from their own coach.
"Nobody wants to correct his mistake more than the guy on the ice, and that's me," he said Friday.
Newcomer Shakir Mukhamadullin looks worse on paper, sitting at minus-6 through two games. The coaching staff zeroed in on both him and Walman at practice.
Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi left exposed ahead of Kraken visit
The numbers in the crease are ugly. Jarry owns a .739 save percentage, while Levi sits at .682 despite collecting the win in Vancouver.
Walman refused to put any of it on his goalies. He pointed to three or four breakaways and a couple of odd-man rushes in the opener alone.
Asking a goaltender to clean up that kind of traffic is like asking a crossing guard to manage a highway. Somebody's getting through.
Thursday exposed the deeper problem. Edmonton built an 8-2 lead midway through the game, then handed five back before hanging on.
"When we let in a couple of goals, it just kind of spiralled a bit," the defenceman admitted.
So who fixes it? Not the forwards. Evan Bouchard already has 8 points and Connor McDavid has 7, yet the Oilers still needed overtime just to lose the home opener.
And reinforcements aren't coming soon. Zach Hyman is expected to be out until at least Oct. 17.
The Kraken arrive with a 1-0-0 record after a 6-1 win in Calgary. Lane Lambert's group has allowed a single goal all season, which makes tonight a very different test.
Babcock taking the blame is smart politics for a first-year coach in this market. Rolling out the same blue line without a real shakeup would be a bad idea.
Tonight is the first meeting between these two teams this season. If the goals against keep piling up, the conversation shifts from coaching to personnel, and Stan Bowman's phone starts ringing.
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Should Mike Babcock scratch Jake Walman if the Oilers give up five or more again tonight?
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