After a disastrous back-to-back set in St. Louis and Dallas, the Edmonton Oilers were back on home ice to face the Western Conference-leading Colorado Avalanche for their first of three meetings on the season. Unfortunately, the Oilers must not have known there was a game to play because they didn’t even show up and got stomped 9-1 as a result.

I don’t know how else to describe last night’s game other than saying the Oilers were completely dominated for most of 60 minutes. Outside of an occasional flash of brilliance on the power play, Edmonton was an international flight behind the Avalanche at every turn and looked more like a team that should be relegated rather than one with Stanley Cup aspirations. It was ugly. No room for silver linings, just a heaping dose of embarrassment. In his scrum after morning skate, Kris Knoblauch told the media that his team would be ready to play, but what actually happened is that they looked like they didn’t care at all. Not only were they not ready to play, but the game looked over before the first period was over.

What I’d love to know is what the organization is thinking right now. The product on the ice is dreadful and fans are losing interest by the day. On my latest episode of Better Lait Than Never, I got a voicemail from a Nation Citizen who said that he really doesn’t care about the Oilers right now because if they’re not going to show up with any emotion, then why should he give them any of his. If they don’t care, why should we? Seems reasonable, no? And after dropping a turd in the punchbowl in the late slot on Hockey Night in Canada, it’s hard to argue with anyone who wants to spend their time doing literally anything else. This team looks lost, the give-a-shit/60 is at zero, and there’s no sign that anyone inside the room cares enough to fix it. Fans have every right to check out. The Oilers keep snoozing their way through games, and it’s exhausting to keep defending a team that refuses to defend itself.

If the Oilers can’t show any fight on a night when they get blown out 9-1 at home, then what’s it going to take for them to show a pulse? It wasn’t just the score that stunk, it was the way they wore it. There was no pushback, no urgency, no scrums, no anger, no fights, no hits, and, in a sense, no one in an Oilers uniform cared enough to stop the bleeding. Mistakes kept piling up, the goalies couldn’t stop anything, and it was almost a miracle that 100% of the fans at Rogers Place didn’t leave after the second period. You can forgive a bad night when the effort is there, but what we saw was unacceptable. It was indifference. It was rolling over and showing their tummies like scared puppies.

Fans aren’t asking for miracles. They’re asking for effort. They want to sit and watch a team that feels the same frustration they do, that losing like this actually means something. Instead, we’re left watching a group that looks like it would rather be doing anything other than playing the sport that pays them handsomely, and it’s hard not to wonder where the bottom is. People in this city live and breathe this team. They build their nights and weekends around it and spend their hard-earned money to support it. But when the players stop showing that same care, it chips away at the bond that makes being an Oilers fan special. The passion in this market is earned, not given, and right now it feels like the team is taking that for granted. But hey, at least we always get another double-digit increase in ticket prices to look forward to.

Saturday night’s game marked a major milestone for Mattias Ekholm, as he played in his 900th career NHL game. It’s a feat that only happens when you can play consistently well over a long stretch, and with 15 seasons under his belt, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t done exactly that. But even though last night was a celebration of a hard-fought career, it’s hard not to notice that our Big Viking Daddy is looking a step behind what we’d usually expect. He’s making mistakes and getting caught out of position more often than we’re used to, and it feels like a troubling trend carryover from his less-than-stellar performance in the Stanley Cup Final. The obvious thing is to say that he needs to be better, but what we don’t know is if he has the juice to actually make that happen.

It’s not that I want to pick on Ekholm specifically, because everyone in an Oilers uniform was part of the problem, but he’s one of the guys who’s supposed to set the tone. When he’s off, it stands out in a huge way. Maybe it’s taking longer for him to get up to speed, maybe it’s frustration, maybe he’s still hurt, but the mistakes keep piling up, and it’s fair to wonder where the leadership and accountability have gone. This team needs someone to grab the wheel before the season slips completely off the rails, and right now, no one looks willing to do it. So while it’s pretty damned cool that Mattias Ekholm played in his 900th game, it sure would be nice if he started playing like it.

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!