After taking care of the Blackhawks on Saturday at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers hit the road for a quick two-game trip that started Monday in St. Louis against the Blues. For whatever reason, the schedule makers dropped these two random road games to start the week, and then the Oilers won’t play again until the weekend back at home. Unfortunately, the opener of the two-day roadie did not go well, as Edmonton blew their early lead en route to another miserable and avoidable loss. Good times.

With the assist he picked up on Jack Roslovic’s power play goal, Connor McDavid became the fourth fastest player in NHL history to reach 1100 points, behind only Wayne Gretzky (464 GP), Mario Lemieux (550 GP), and Mike Bossy (725 GP). McDavid hit the milestone in just his 726th game, which is ridiculous when you think about how casually he seems to add another hundred points every season. The wild part is that with a little luck and a few more goals, he’ll probably hit 1200 before this season’s over. I know I say this a lot around here, but it’s worth repeating how this is not normal stuff. Our man is a cheat code in the best hockey league on earth, and I feel like his 1100th point is a good time to remind us all to enjoy every single minute of watching him play that we can.

As much as it pains me to admit, there were times over the summer while we were waiting for his contract extension when I thought about what life might look like if he didn’t sign. Spoiler: It wasn’t very fun. For the last decade, No. 97 has dazzled us on a nightly basis, and I hated what my imagination spat out any time I tried to think of an Oilers universe without him. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that for a while. That’s why I decided I’m going to do my best to actively appreciate watching play as often as I can think about it. Monday was one of those nights. Having McDavid’s name flashed up on screen alongside some of the greatest to ever do it was one of those moments that makes you stop and take it all in. It’s easy to get caught up in the grind of a regular season, but milestones like this remind me how we’re watching history unfold in real time, and I don’t ever want to take that for granted.

The Edmonton Oilers are masters at finding ways to drive us nuts. For the second time in the last three games, they built a two-goal lead and somehow managed to piss it away, this time against a St. Louis Blues team that came into the night riding a seven-game losing streak. After building an early lead on goals from Jack Roslovic and Andrew Mangiapane, the Oilers seemingly decided to take their foot off the gas. I guess two goals were good enough. From there, Dalibor Dvorsky got the Blues on the board at 16:08 of the second period, and before anyone could even process it, Robert Thomas tied the game just two and a half minutes later. What should have been a routine night against a struggling team turned into another meltdown, and you could almost hear the collective groan from everyone who loves this time.

Yeah, the refs missed a couple of brutal calls in the third period, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Oilers have no one to blame but themselves. They were flat, careless, and once again guilty of taking their foot off the gas. I don’t know what it is about this team that makes them hang the “Mission Accomplished” banner halfway through games, but this was an even uglier rerun of what we saw against the Rangers last week. St. Louis only had four shots in the third period, and the worst part is that the last one — Pius Suter’s game-winner at 18:37 — found the back of the net. Another winnable game wasted. More lip service about learning from mistakes. At some point, the excuses stop mattering, and these collapses just become who you are.

If the Oilers want to be Stanley Cup contenders, they need to start playing like it. Contending teams don’t hand out second chances to struggling opponents, and they sure don’t blow two-goal leads to teams on horrible runs like the Rangers and Blues. Contenders extend other teams’ losing streaks, not snap them. This group keeps talking about lessons and growth, but at some point, the talking has to stop, and the results have to show up on the scoreboard. The window for moral victories slammed shut a long time ago, and I’m having a really hard time trying to polish this early-season turd for the third year in a row. Good teams close the deal. Great teams push your head further under water when you’re drowning. Right now, the Oilers are stuck somewhere in between, and it’s incredibly annoying to watch.

I keep waiting for some kind of killer instinct to show up, but we haven’t seen anything close to it. I’m talking about the kind of fire that separates the teams that talk about winning from the ones that actually do it. Where is the team that smells blood and finishes the job without hesitation? The Oilers, somehow, keep choosing mercy over murder, and it’s driving me nuts. They keep breathing life into opponents that should already be done and dusted instead of actually closing the deal. And until they start playing like every shift matters and every lead is sacred, they’re going to keep finding new and agonizing ways to lose games that should have been two points in the bank. The talent isn’t the issue — everyone knows it’s there — but the hunger, the urgency, the edge that makes a team dangerous is missing. And until that shows up, the only thing standing between the Oilers and success will continue to be the reflection staring back at them.

Wake up with Ryder and Lisa on The Sauce! Your new chaotic morning show streaming live from 8-10AM MST every weekday on Oilersnation YouTube starting Monday November 3rd. It’s unpredictable, unfiltered, and totally them. Like, follow and subscribe to never miss an episode!