Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts..

I wasn’t home on Thursday, so I missed watching that loss live a small silver lining, right?

After the final buzzer, cameras caught Leon Draisaitl slamming the bench door in frustration on his way to the locker room. Honestly, I’m surprised he had the energy left to do that, considering how much he’s been carrying this team. The Oilers have now dropped five straight games for the first time since the 2021-22 season, including their loss at home before the Four Nations break. During this road trip alone, they’ve been outscored 21-10, and if you factor in that last home loss, it’s 26-14. I may not be a mathematician, but that doesn’t sound great.

Despite another loss, this was arguably the closest Edmonton has come to winning since returning. Stuart Skinner looked like he was on his way to regaining favor with Oilers fans until the latter half of the third period. Florida’s third goal came with no screen or deflection, following a bad pinch and poor line change that left open ice where there shouldn’t have been any, as Kris Knoblauch pointed out. The fourth goal was a combined mistake from Skinner and Mattias Ekholm who, for the first time, didn’t look great, especially on Carter Verhaeghe’s second goal.

Post-game interviews revealed some interesting contrasts between the players and the coach. Skinner insisted he felt great mentally and was just happy to be in the lineup, which doesn’t exactly sound like a goalie frustrated by losing and allowing costly goals. Brett Kulak said he liked the team’s effort, but Knoblauch noted there were a few “passengers” on the ice. Meanwhile, Daryl Katz is reportedly calling Stan Bowman and Jeff Jackson daily about these losses, raising questions about whether this will push the Oilers toward a busier trade deadline.

With Darnell Nurse listed as day-to-day and missing last night’s game, should management consider adding another defenseman in case injuries pile up? Just a week ago, Edmonton was in the race for first in their division. Now, they’re fighting to hold onto home-ice advantage in the first round. This slump wouldn’t feel quite as bad if they had picked up a few OT points in those five losses. I’m not worried about them missing the playoffs entirely, but if they keep sliding and end up as a wild-card team, would you feel good about facing Winnipeg in the first round, given how they’re playing right now?

This is the opposite of what we usually see from the Oilers typically, they struggle in the first half and surge in the second. Let’s hope they’re not flipping the script this season. For now, let’s just try to wrap up this road trip from hockey hell on a positive note. The keys to the game are…

 

Game Notes:

Learn From Last Time: I mentioned in the last game preview the Oilers going into the building where they lost the Stanley Cup. We all remember what the regular season was like before that. An ugly loss against Carolina in Raleigh, while they were still a bottom 3 team in the league and after they had their coaching change, this was scene as the turning point in their season. With the funk they’re feeling right now, perhaps a big win here would inspire better play next week.

Oh Captain, my Captain: Since his Team Canada heroics last week, Connor McDavid has just 3 assists on this road trip. While I personally would love a 74 point “off year”, it is pretty average by his standards. Natural Stat Trick shows him, since January 27th, being outscored 1-9 on the ice without Draisaitl. I want him to cap off the team’s toughest road trip before the Trade Deadline with a productive closing.

New Canes: Since being traded to Carolina, Mikko Rantanen has 5 points in 9 games, while Taylor Hall has just 2. There’s been some talk in hockey media of Rantanen possibly being traded again, his production has been on and off after leaving Colorado. Hall just scored his first as a Hurricane the other night, and would like to get it going more against the team that drafted him. The Oilers were already burned by Martin Necas before the break after leaving Carolina. Don’t get burned by these trade pieces, too.