The Edmonton Oilers entered Wednesday night’s game against the Calgary Flames with one goal in mind: get a win before the Olympic break.

The best they could do was muster up a 4-3 loss, and for one of their leaders, Leon Draisaitl, to call out the goaltenders, the coaching staff, and the team as a whole. Yeah, things are totally normal in Edmonton right now.

What added to the sting was the fact that the Oilers, after getting their first three-game winning streak of the season less than a week ago, would drop their third straight game. Add into the fact it was at the hands of the Flames, and maybe that added a little bit more salt in the wound for the team.

I, for one, think the Oilers and Flames should play a lot more than just three or four times in a season. These games never disappoint in their intensity and electricity, and Wednesday didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t an overly chippy game, but had its moments that culminated in Ty Emberson and Joel Hanley dropping the gloves at centre ice and exchanging some absolute haymakers.

The fight virtually came right off a faceoff, while the shift prior saw Zach Hyman get tied up ever so slightly with Flames defenceman Kevin Bahl, who fell awkwardly into the boards. For whatever reason it was Emberson and Hanley that would drop the gloves, and the fight didn’t disappoint whatsoever. You can check it out and vote on the winner at Hockey Fights.

And with the Flames coming out on top 4-3 in the game, they officially took the season series 3-1. They beat the Oilers 4-3 in a shootout on opening night, but the Oilers fought back — literally — in their second game just before the Christmas break, snagging a 5-1 win. Game three came right after the break, where the Flames won 3-2.

It marks the first time since 2019-20 that the Flames have won the season series with the Oilers:

And he has a right to be.

I’ve watched a lot of Oilers hockey in my life, and listened to a lot of scrums and pressers in the last five years since I started here full-time. I can’t recall hearing an Oilers player call out the coaching staff as blatantly as Leon Draisaitl did when talking about another poor performance from the team after the game.

I mean, wow. Those are, to put it lightly, some pretty blunt comments from Draisaitl, who, as we all know, wears his heart on his sleeve. You could hear the emotion in his voice, and his words carry weight in this town. The thing is — he’s got a point. Too many times this season, the Oilers have had poor starts to games, got down early, and been unable to come back.

Look at the time on ice for last night’s game for the forward group.

McDavid played 26:30. Draisaitl 25:27. Zach Hyman 23:41. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 22:50.

Vasily Podkolzin 16:35. Kasperi Kapanen 15:39. Jack Roslovic 14:12. Matt Savoie 10:52.

Josh Samanski 9:23. Andrew Mangiapane 7:39. Mattias Janmark 5:32. Curtis Lazar 4:24.

This isn’t just a last-night thing — it’s gone on all season long, and even longer, through multiple head coaches. I get it. McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, and Nugent-Hopkins are incredible talents who should be playing a lot. But on a night where Kris Knoblauch changed the lines, sliding Nuge to the third-line centre spot, he sure didn’t hesitate to just put them all together on the top line and pray it would work.

With this in mind, go back and read what Derek Ryan had to say last week about depth players needing a role on the team. Time is a flat circle in Edmonton.

It’s about time the Olympic break has arrived, in the words of Knoblauch, who seems to be looking forward to the “little mini training camp” the Oilers will get before games get underway again on Feb. 25th. Teams can practice again starting on the 17th, and days ago, he said the team is going to be considering “changing things” defensively. Nothing says confidence in your team like looking at a mid-season training camp to get back to the basics.

Truth be told, the Oilers are not in a good place right now. They sit second in the Pacific Division, but only one point separates them from the final wild card spot. They had a chance in January to make hay with an eight-game homestand, yet squandered it with a measly 4-4 stand. What plays to their benefit is a derelict division in which nobody, including the Vegas Golden Knights, seems eager to pull away from the pack.

The problem is that there are more than a few young, hungry teams nipping at their heels to push for a playoff spot. Now’s the time for every Oiler to take some time to look in the mirror and figure things out.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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