The weird thing about matinee weekends like this one is that you never really know what you’re going to get. Will the change in routine throw the players off and open the door for more chaos? Will one team show up sharper than the other? Will we forget the game’s even on? Between the odd start time and the early-season rust still showing up on the ice, it was anyone’s guess how Saturday’s matchup between the Oilers and Devils would play out. Unfortunately for Oilers fans, what we got felt like getting kicked in the shin over and over again. Same problems, same mistakes, same lack of execution on special teams, same result.

At some point, the puck has to start going in the net for more guys than just Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl. Through the first five games, the Oilers have only scored 13 goals, and those two guys have combined for more than half of them. Nuge has four, Leon has three, and after that, you’re falling off a cliff. Andrew Mangiapane has two goals, but hasn’t exactly been noticeable since last Saturday night against Vancouver. Trent Frederic got the winner against the Rangers, but nothing more. Adam Henrique’s lone goal is an empty-netter. Philp has one, but he’s been scratched. And sure, Curtis Lazar picked up his first as an Oiler in the dying seconds of the game against the Devils — it was a nice shot, no doubt — but it came in garbage time with the loss already being scratched into the standings.

That’s just not good enough. You can’t win consistently when only two players are finding twine. Connor McDavid, Evan Bouchard, Kasperi Kapanen, Jack Roslovic, Vasily Podkolzin, Carter Savoie, Tomas Tomasek, and Isaac Howard are all still looking for their first of the year, and that’s a pretty long list of key names in the lineup. There are others in the same boat, but you get the point — this group needs more contributors. The Oilers can talk about process and generating chances all they want, but until the puck starts actually going up on the board, they’re going to keep walking out of these games frustrated. While I absolutely believe some guys will pull out of it sooner than others — Connor McDavid is obviously going to start scoring sooner than later — but there are other guys who probably need one for the dose of confidence. Here’s hoping that happens sooner than later.

If the Oilers want to win hockey games, they can’t keep getting buried on special teams the way they did on Saturday against the Devils. Not only did Edmonton go 0-for-3 on the power play, but they also gave up a shorthanded goal to, who else, Connor Brown. Because why wouldn’t it be him? To make things worse, they also allowed one on the penalty kill, losing the special teams battle 2-0 in a game that was already stacking up against them. For a team still searching for its groove at even strength, or even what their groove looks like, they can’t afford to keep going backwards in the one area that’s supposed to be their strength. They can’t keep getting crushed by mistakes that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

That’s now two games in a row with a shorthanded breakaway goal against, which is completely unacceptable for any team at any level. The Oilers are supposed to be killers on the power play, but instead, they look content to keep running a gift shop. The urgency isn’t there right now. On the PK side, while there have been year-over-year improvements — it would be hard to be as bad as they were last season — the results still aren’t good enough. The guys on those units need to bear down, win battles, and keep the puck out of their own net. A minus-two goal swing on special teams is a recipe for disaster, and it’s the kind of detail that will erase your chance to win more often than not. I know teams tend to look rusty through the first few weeks of the season, but woof. This was bad even if you are giving them a pass while the early season kinks get worked out.

Nothing would make me happier than if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins can keep this hot start to the season going, forcing me to write about him every single night. RNH is off to exactly the kind of start the Oilers need from him. With Edmonton struggling to find much rhythm against the Devils, it was Nugent-Hopkins who gave them a spark late in the second period when he snapped a perfectly placed shot over Jake Allen’s glove to cut the deficit in half. That 2–1 goal came moments after New Jersey looked ready to pull away with Jesper Bratt’s power-play marker. Being down two heading into the third would’ve felt like climbing Everest with the way things were going, but Nuge’s finish kept the door open on the comeback. In the dying minutes of the third, Nugent-Hopkins buried his second of the night with a tap-in from the crease after McDavid found him with a slick touch pass, giving the Oilers a late push even if it was ultimately too late.

What stands out early this season is how much more Nuge is looking to shoot the puck, and it’s great to see him getting rewarded for it. Saturday’s pair gave him four goals in five games, already quadrupling his total through the first 19 contests of last season. For a guy with such a sneaky, accurate release, it’s always driven me nuts to see him pass up looks, and I’m begging the Hockey Gords to keep this shoot-often mentality going. If he can act a little more like a trigger man for McDavid, it changes the entire complexion of Edmonton’s top six. The Oilers need more than just Leon Draisaitl carrying the load, and right now, Nugent-Hopkins is doing his part to get the offence moving. We all know Nuge is going to play big, varied minutes this year, and this early scoring touch is making those minutes that much more valuable.

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