If you happen to run into Oilers coach Dallas Eakins today, don’t bother asking how his weekend went.
Following Saturday’s 8-1 home loss to Calgary -- a game in which someone threw an Oilers jersey onto the ice for the second time this season -- Eakins admitted the last 48 hours were tough to swallow.
“I didn’t even leave the house yesterday,” he said, per Sportsnet. “I wanted to spend the day with my girls. You’re living in a depressed state.”
To say Eakins’ first year in Edmonton has been disappointing is a major understatement. The Oilers have a worse winning percentage (.410) than they had in either of the previous two years (.469 and .451, respectively), and are on pace to draft in the top-10 for the sixth year in a row.
The 8-1 loss came just two days after another brutal performance, a 3-1 loss at home to Buffalo -- the only team in below Edmonton in the standings. Needless to say, losing by a combined 11-2 score to the Flames and Sabres -- at Rexall, no less -- has taken its toll on Eakins.
“I wanted to leave that [Flames] game behind,” he said. “However we have to deal with it today and then we’ll move on.”
Like Charlie Brown being followed around by that dang raincloud, Eakins just can’t escape the bad vibes. During Monday’s practice, he watched as goalie Viktor Fasth was run over by Anton Lander and was forced to leave the ice. Fasth, 2-0-1 in his brief time with Oilers, reportedly suffered a sprained neck in the collision.
Good times in Edmonton!