Darnell Nurse’s early mistakes against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night became a hot topic of conversation among Oilers fans, a discussion that would have grown louder had the Oilers lost that game. If there wasn’t a huge surge in the second period — a surge that Nurse has missed much of since he sat for the first seven minutes of the period — it could be more of a talking point.
For the first time this season, the Oilers chose to be a star player. The nurse missed several shifts during the second period, returning with about 13 minutes left, returning only after the team had tied the score at 2-2. His mistakes in the first period, including a fumble that led directly to a goal, were too glaring to ignore.
“Two big mistakes by Nurse in that period led to goals,” TSN’s Ryan Rishaug noted during the break. “Third game in a row, Oilers down 2-0… This team hates October.” This was a new way for head coach Kris Knoblauch to manage his bench this season. In ten games, several stars have underperformed. The nurse was the first to sit on the couch.
Are the Oilers starting to hold players accountable?
Forget for a moment that Nurse is a polarizing figure and a magnet for criticism in Edmonton. He may never get a fair chance due to his salary and his inconsistent play for what he gets paid. The question becomes: is the decision to bench nurses for multiple shifts the new standard going forward?
While the Oilers collectively needed a wake-up call after 16 turnovers in the rush to start the game, Nurse was picked. He finished with just 16:49 of ice time — nearly four minutes below his season average — and recorded no points in a game the team ultimately dominated in the final 40.
Whether it was conversations with the Oilers between periods or the nurse’s bench that sparked the team’s comeback, whatever was said, the decision to make him the scapegoat for a lousy team-wide effort worked.
Perhaps head coach Kris Knoblauch, who has been mildly criticized this season for being slow to discipline poor play, is ready to take action.
An example of that was the treatment of Evan Bouchard, who was allowed to work through mistakes on the ice until the last few games when he started producing. Sports 1440’s Jason Gregor talked about how Bouchard’s giveaways this season were so egregious that he cost himself a chance to make Team Canada’s Olympic team.
Even Mattias Ekholm noted that he hated his own game, but didn’t sit and didn’t see his minutes reduced. Connor McDavid has missed several shooting opportunities and the team’s stars are only now starting to find their rhythm. “Everyone felt enough was enough… We found our game, and that should be the standard for the future,” Ekholm said.
Will Knoblauch enforce this new standard? The hope is that the Oilers have found something and the coach doesn’t have to.
And if it took a few minutes to sit down a $9.25 million defenseman, Nurse will probably be the first to admit it was worth it. He may not like it personally, but he knows he has to improve and that team wins are more important.
Whether Tuesday night’s benching is an isolated message or a new standard of accountability remains to be seen, but it’s clear the Oilers want their stars to set the tone. The Oilers play the New York Rangers on Thursday evening.
Next: Hyman’s return could breathe new life into the Oilers, but at a high cost
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