The Edmonton Oilers kicked off their road trip with two massive wins in Vegas and Colorado, but the job didn’t get any easier for round three when the boys faced the Dallas Stars. But while the Oilers brought their best for the first two games of the trip, the same could not be said about last night at American Airlines Arena. Instead, Edmonton got run out of the building, lost 7-2, and was forced to run the game into the ditch. Back to the drawing board we go.

Remember how good it felt to watch the Oilers close out the Golden Knights and Avalanche in regulation? Pretty cool, right? The start of Thursday’s game in Dallas was the opposite. Unless you were a Stars fan, there was no fun to be had. None. Zero. We got the shit sandwich with no mustard, and it’s hard to describe the letdown after being excited that maybe this team was finally turning the corner. So, to have the Oilers look like they were going to get run out of the building before the game was even a period old was as deflating as it was angering. Once again, one team was ready to play, and the other was the Edmonton Oilers.

It’s hard enough to win games in the NHL without spotting your opponent a field goal, but once again, the Oilers seemed to need an invitation to actually engage the evening. It’s not just that they gave up three goals, but the fact that boys mustered only four shots on net through 20 minutes. Not only did our side get caved in on the scoreboard, but they barely responded with any pushback whatsoever. If anything, that first period was closer to a roll-over and show your tummy to a contender than it was any kind of even matchup. As far as measuring stick moments go, the Oilers failed the “get a good start” portion of the test quite handily.

You can call me a caveman or an idiot or whatever you want, but I like the fact that the boys went down swinging. With Dallas running up the score, it would have been easy to fold their hand and look ahead at St. Louis, but the Oilers went down to the wire with some rage in their hearts. Now, I know that taking a pound of flesh means literally nothing in terms of points or the standings, but I think it’s important to show that you’re not going to quit or be pushed around. Of course, it sure would have been nice if the team had that same jam before the game got out of hand, but I’m choosing to look at the scrums and line mixups as a silver lining in what was otherwise a dreadful night of hockey.

At the very least, Thursday’s game was a pretty great example of what these two teams think of each other. With the Oilers bumping Dallas out of the Western Conference Final the last two seasons, it’s no surprise that the temperature cranked up to 100 when the score went sideways. And for a team often criticized for being pushovers, there was nothing in any of those scrums that would lead you to believe they’ll get run around when the games ratchet up the intensity. Again, you want the points and losing like that is embarrassing, no matter how you slice it, but if you’re going to go down, I liked seeing the boys go down swinging. The only other thing to do is flush this one and get set for the Blues.

After coming in to Tuesday’s game in relief of Connor Ingram, Tristan Jarry was back between the pipes in Dallas, looking to keep building the good vibes. It doesn’t take much thought to figure out how important it is for the Oilers‘ Cup dreams that Jarry get back on top of his game, and sometimes there’s no better way to do that than to face a little adversity. The Stars would definitely qualify. Not only is Dallas the second-best team in the NHL, but this was also a chance for Edmonton to avenge that embarrassing 8-3 loss from back in November. If they were going to get that job done, Jarry needed to be a big part of the story. He needed to bring his A-game.

Unfortunately, the Jarry section of Thursday’s story wasn’t positive. Despite many of us hoping that Tuesday’s win in Colorado might be a stepping stone to better days, those hopes came crashing back down to earth after Jarry allowed seven goals on 27 shots. It’s not that all of those goals were Jarry’s fault — they most certainly were not — but he didn’t do himself any favours with the ones that absolutely were his fault. While there were more than a few problems happening in front of the crease, it is impossible to win when you give up a touchdown and finish with a .741 save percentage. I know goalie numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but it’s hard to argue that you don’t get a good picture of how things went by looking at Jarry’s from last night at American Airlines Arena.