POST-GAME: Learning to start strong

EDMONTON, AB - It was a comeback that came up short.
But to the Edmonton Oilers players and coaches, it was a comeback that shouldn't have to happen in the first place.
Defenceman Cody Ceci responded for the Blue & Orange two minutes after Mikael Backlund gave the Calgary Flames an early advantage just 1:13 into the first Battle of Alberta of the 2022-23 NHL season. From there, however, things snowballed in the wrong direction.
Just beyond the 10-minute mark of the first period, the Oilers found themselves down by a 4-1 scoreline that left themselves in a similar predicament to their season-opening victory over Vancouver -- down three goals with plenty of work to do to get back into the hockey game.
"You look at some of the goals that went in," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said post-game on Saturday. "I thought around our net, we were not nearly as assertive or hard as the way we normally can play, so they did a good job of getting our net and we can do a better job of preventing them from getting there.
"I thought on the second one, we lost a face-off. They came down and it was a seeing-eye puck that went in on a hard shot. The third one we fell down, then the fourth one, it was a little bit of a sloppy change, but I thought we could be harder around our blue paint. So for me, there's a lot of stuff to work on there."
The Oilers chipped away, getting to within a goal thanks to tallies from captain Connor McDavid and Ryan McLeod in the second period, before waiting until the final moments of regulation to get their greatest opportunity to equalize when Zach Hyman came oh-so-close to beating Flames netminder Dan Vladar in a last-ditch scramble during the game's dying seconds.
"We had a couple whacks at the end there," forward Leon Draisaitl said. "Obviously you're hoping one of those squeaks through, but it wasn't meant to be."

Unlike Edmonton's opening win on Wednesday, they couldn't get that all-important tying goal when they needed to in order to set themselves up for a go-ahead marker at the end of a string of consecutive goals.
When debriefing in the dressing room post-game, there were only discussions internally about what they gave up at the beginning instead of stressing over what they couldn't get at the end.
"Certainly I see what everyone sees, which is that we're putting ourselves behind in games and that's obviously that's not our plan heading into a game," Woodcroft said. "The response in the second and third was better, but when you put yourself down the way we did, it's too big of a hill to climb after being down to that team 4-1."
"Just individual and system mistakes," Draisaitl added. "Just little mistakes that are easy to clean up, but obviously, we can't spot a team three goals in back-to-back nights. It's something we have to address."
The Oilers were left to chase their opponent from behind for the second straight game to begin the campaign on Saturday instead of starting on the front foot. While the game is never over from a losing position, with their season-opening comeback being a prime example, it's never a good place to be -- especially with a group as defensively and offensively capable as this Oilers group.
"I think it was another tough start for us," defenceman Cody Ceci said. "It's tough to come back every single night, so it's something we've definitely got to address. It seems like once we get going we're a good team, but you can't play from behind every single night.
"We're definitely coming out a little flat kind of seeing what other teams got instead of just showing them what we have. We have so much skill and so much offence. If we pour it on teams early, I think it'll put them on their heels a little bit."

Goaltender Jack Campbell was lifted from the Oilers crease in the first period after conceding four goals on 11 shots, giving way to Stuart Skinner to make 31 sharp stops in relief, but the result was far from a goaltending problem.
The Oilers players and coach rushed to defend their netminder in their post-game comments, placing the blame on the whole group for not defending better in front of him. It was Campbell's 21 saves on Wednesday after the Oilers fell behind 3-0 to the Canucks that gave them the necessary means to mount a comeback similarly to what Skinner provided them on Saturday night.
"That's on us. That has nothing to do with him," Draisaitl said of his goaltender. "He was amazing the other night, this is 100 percent on us. It has nothing to do with him."
"That's on our team," Woodcroft added. "We are a team, and it starts with the coaching staff and then goes to the players. We're all in it together."
After putting the emphasis in Training Camp and Preseason on coming out of the gates flying and reducing their goals against, it's been a less-than-ideal start to the campaign in that regard that will need to be rectified if the Oilers are going to establish themselves early in the Pacific Division and build positive momentum for the remaining 80 regular-season games.
"We're not near what we're capable of," Woodcroft said. "I'm not going to put a percentage on it or anything like that, but certainly, there are areas that we've got to get better at and we've got to get better at it quickly. I
"I think the teams that are finding some early success in this young year, they're the ones that are a little bit cleaner and a little bit more assertive in their own end. In the games that I'm watching, there's lots of sloppy play, but the ones that are having some success are the ones that are limiting their chances and forcing more on the other team."

The Oilers will not be a club that struggles to score goals this season -- a detail that's been preached by players throughout Training Camp and demonstrated time and time again over the years by this club -- but starts like the ones the Oilers have had in the first two games of the new season are ones that are going to want to be ironed out of their game sooner rather than later.
"I would say that we can play better, and certainly, there are some specific areas that we can improve on. But that's on us," Woodcroft said. "That's not on anybody else, that's on us. We can play a lot better than we showed, specifically in the first period. "
All of which will be something for the Oilers to chew on following an off day on Sunday when they get back to taking care of the day's business at practice and prepare for a visit from the Buffalo Sabres to Rogers Place on Tuesday night -- the third game of an important six-game homestand to open Edmonton's season.
"We should have a captive audience when we get back to practice because we haven't started the way we've wanted to in the last two games, that's for sure," Woodcroft said.