Oilers experiencing difficulty scoring goals during rare stretch

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- The Edmonton Oilers have a surprising problem.

"We haven't scored a lot of goals, actually," general manager Stan Bowman said at the NHL GM meetings Monday. "That's probably been our biggest challenge recently."

The Oilers have two of the best scorers in the NHL: Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

Draisaitl leads the League with 49 goals -- 11 more than the player in second place, Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander. Draisaitl has 101 points, two behind the NHL leader, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon.

McDavid has 86 points (25 goals, 61 assists), fourth in the League.

But Edmonton has averaged 2.88 goals per game since Feb. 1, tied for 21st in the NHL in that span with the Utah Hockey Club.

Although the Oilers have gone 31.6 percent on the power play in that span, fifth in the NHL, they have scored 27 goals 5-on-5, 26th in the League. Their 5-on-5 shooting percentage is 6.7 in that span, 30th in the League. That's a big reason they have gone 7-9-0 in their past 16 games.

Does Bowman have a good theory?

"No, I don't," he said. "I mean, we talk about this all the time as far as, 'Why are we not [scoring 5-on-5]?' We're generating a lot of chances. If you look at the analytics, not that they mean everything, but the expected goals, we're near the top of the League, but our conversation rate is so low.

"We have guys that have converted in the past that aren't converting this year. I don't know. Is it luck? I mean, when it goes on for a short period of time, I think your reaction is, 'Well, it'll even itself out. It's just a small sample.' It's not that small of a sample anymore. We have a lot of players on our team where their actual goals are below their expected goals.

"So, it means we're generating the chances. We're just not putting them in."

The Oilers were 32-15-4 before Feb. 1. Their .667 points percentage ranked third in the NHL, and they were averaging 3.29 goals per game, sixth in the League. Their power play was operating at 24.4 percent, seventh in the League. They had 114 goals 5-on-5, tied for fourth with the Carolina Hurricanes.

They went 2-2-1 in their last five games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20. Afterward, they lost four straight games in regulation, all on the road.

They have gone 5-3-0 since.

"There was a stretch there leading to the 4 Nations break and coming out of it where we weren't playing well," Bowman said. "I would say we were out of sorts as far as giving up a lot of chances, not being careful with the puck, not managing the puck well, giving up too many easy breaks.

"I think we've definitely turned that around in the recent stretch, but the games, they've been close. I think you've got to rely on your special teams and your goaltending when that's the case."

The Oilers lost 3-2 at the Buffalo Sabres on March 10 even though they outshot them 34-23. They lost 3-2 at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday even though they outshot them 33-22.

They won 2-1 in overtime at the New York Islanders on Friday, outshooting them 35-25, and 3-1 at the New York Rangers on Sunday.

"Our game has been pretty good," Bowman said. "I think the thing that's missing is really just scoring. It has a bit of a trickle-down effect. When you don't score, even when you're dominating, you let teams hang around, and then you're vulnerable to a random play or bad luck or penalties, and then all of a sudden, a game that you've controlled the whole game, you're trailing, when you've played well.

"The Buffalo game last week was an example. [Hit] five or six posts. We should have been way ahead, and we weren't, and then they make a play, and we get behind by a goal, and you lose the game. You walk away from that thinking, 'How did that happen?' Sort of controlled the game, but it just puts pressure on when you don't score."

Edmonton has played 10 one-goal games since Feb. 1, going 5-5-0. The Oilers hope it will prepare them for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"That's the thing I've seen with our team lately," Bowman said. "We had a slow start out of the break. We didn't play well on that road trip, but then since that point, I feel like the last stretch of games here, even the two games at the beginning of this trip, in Buffalo and New Jersey, sort of the same thing, sort of low-scoring, tight-checking games.

"So, that's what we're playing right now, and I guess that's probably a good precursor for what you're going to see come the first round of the playoffs."