No words can describe this period, but I’ll try: fix your penalty kill and get Halak moving and aware. That seems to summarize the issues pretty ok.
Despite the fact that David Backes scored his third goal of the year to start the period off, no momentum even looked like it was going the Blues’ way – or at the very least no one was willing to follow their captain’s lead. The team still isn’t communicating well, and is having issues maintaining puck possession against the speedy youngsters of the Oilers.
Ryan Smyth netted two goals ten minutes apart, the first sliding under Jaroslav Halak’s pad on some sloppy lateral movement from the goalie. Between those two, Jordan Eberle deflected a shot off of his skate sans kicking motion squeaked between Halak’s legs.
Poor possession, bad decisions, and terribly sloppy play by the Blues have put the Oilers up 4-1, and chances are it has also put this game out of reach.