After falling to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon, the Oilers returned to Rogers Place for their final two regular-season games of the year. First up was a visit from a shorthanded Colorado Avalanche team that had several players out of their lineup after already locking down the Presidents’ Trophy. What we got was a hard-fought night where both teams had plenty of chances, but both goaltenders came up with a pile of saves to keep it anyone’s game. In the end, it was the Avs who found a way to grab the extra point, defeating the Oilers 2-1 in the shootout.

It doesn’t take a data scientist to tell you that the Oilers’ offence has really dried up over the last couple of games, and I sure am grateful that Connor McDavid’s goal heater has been happening to bury the struggles a little bit. With the goal he picked up to tie the game at one apiece in the back half of the second period, McDavid has registered 11 goals in his last 11 games. At a time when the team is struggling to generate much of anything offensively, the captain keeps finding ways to put everyone on his back and carry the team forward. When everyone else looks like they can’t piss a drop, it’s No. 97 who keeps finding a way to keep his team in the fight. I wish he had some help, but I absolutely appreciate the effort.

As much as it’s annoying to be back on a losing streak, it’s not for lack of execution from the team’s best player. Night after night, you can basically pencil McDavid in for something, and lately that “something” has been goals at a ridiculous clip. This goal heater has been real and it’s been fantastic. The problem, of course, is that he can’t be the only guy finding the back of the net every night. As impressive as he’s been en route to what’s likely to be another Art Ross Trophy, the Oilers need more from the rest of the group to turn these Connor’s efforts into wins. Until that happens, McDavid is doing everything he can to keep this injury-riddled team afloat, and it’s been a massive reason why they’re even fighting at the top of the division right now.

If there’s one thing you can’t pin on Connor Ingram from Monday night, it’s the result. The guy did everything he possibly could to will the Oilers into overtime against a Colorado team that can cause damage regardless of who is or isn’t in their lineup. Stopping 30 of 31 is already an accomplishment around here, but where Ingram really shined was on the penalty kill. Four kills, no goals against, and he made multiple saves from in tight that could have easily been goals. In the moments when the ice tilted and the Avs were pressing for the game winner, Kingram held the line like a champ and gave the Oilers a chance to win. But as I just spent a couple hundred words complaining about, it’s tough win hockey games when everyone not named Connor can’t seem to score right now.

And if anyone wants to point at the shootout as a reason to nitpick this performance, that’s a miss from what I saw from my side of the TV screen. Three shots in the skills competition doesn’t undo 65 minutes of outstanding goaltending, especially when he’s gotten one goal of support through the last six periods of hockey. That’s back-to-back losses where Ingram was more than good enough to win, only to get basically zero help at the other end. As annoying as another loss to Colorado was to watch when the team still needs points, you have to love the way Ingram has played over these last two. If this is what he’s bringing into the playoffs, the Oilers will be in every game. They just need to figure out how to score for him.

Yeah, I know I’m supposed to be writing about the game, but all I can think about are the injury updates the panel were talking about during the intermission. While everyone loves hearing that Zach Hyman could play on Thursday, but will definitely be good to go for Game 1, it’s hard not to notice that the timelines are way more vague for Leon Draisaitl and Jason Dickinson. When it comes to both of those two guys, the best Bob Stauffer could hope for was early in the first round. That’s not sounding so good to me. Not sounding so good at all.

As much as I love me some ZMH and cannot wait to see him throw his body at everything that moves once the playoffs start, it’s hard not to get hung up on Edmonton’s centre depth being cut in half at the worst possible time of year. Losing two centres would be bad at the best of times, but it’s almost like the Universe is against us when you factor in how critical both Draisaitl and Dickinson are to the Oilers’ Stanley Cup hopes. I don’t know what we’ve done to anger the Gords, but if the injuries weren’t bad enough, having no idea when we’ll get these guys back is torturous.

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