<p>The Edmonton Oilers have fallen flat on their faces out of the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/schedule">4 Nations Face-Off break</a>.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Apparently watching teammate Connor McDavid score the game-winning goal to put a Gold Medal around the necks of his countrymen wasn&#8217;t enough to motivate his teammates to find another level in their game. Instead, McDavid walked back into a tire fire of back-to-back matinees in which his team was outscored a stunning 13-6.</p>
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<p>But that push has to come from somewhere, and after <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/instant-reaction-oilers-fall-7-3-in-washington-and-match-season-high-with-third-consecutive-loss/">losing to the Capitals</a> a day after <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/the-day-after-56-0-sleepy-oilers-fall-to-flyers-as-savoie-shines-in-debut/">falling to the Flyers</a>, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch had choice words for his players.</p>
<p>&#8220;Everyone just needs to dig in and get a little bit better,&#8221; said Knoblauch. &#8220;I can&#8217;t think of anyone that I&#8217;m saying &#8216;Oh I really like his game, he&#8217;s playing outstanding.&#8217;</p>
<p>&#8220;I think everyone in that room can be a bit better. Some more than others, but I think collectively we can step it up. There&#8217;s not a flip a switch, there&#8217;s nothing we can do immediately, everyone just has to be a bit better. Whether that&#8217;s on our backcheck, our breakout, our passing, our penalty kill. Everything can be a little bit better.&#8221;</p>
<p>Over the losses, the Oilers got caved in in pretty much every sense of the term. At five-on-five, they were outscored 8-5, controlling just 46.77 percent of the shot attempt share, and a dismal 36.38 percent of the expected goal share. The penalty kill was awful, allowing three goals against on four chances, while the power play went one-for-four.</p>
<p>Poor goaltending didn&#8217;t help, either, as Stuart Skinner, who started Saturday against Philadelphia, and Calvin Pickard, who went against Washington Sunday, looked like they were playing dodgeball combining for a .800 save percentage. 13 goals against on 43 shots, for those counting at home.</p>
<p>The team looked like a mess all weekend outside of five or so minutes to start <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/game-preview-57-edmonton-oilers-look-to-avoid-third-straight-loss-in-matinee-versus-washington-capitals-11-am-sportsnet/">Sunday&#8217;s game</a>. Offensively, too cute. Defensively, not cute enough.</p>
<p>&#8220;For me, I thought we just looked slow,&#8221; said Knoblauch. &#8220;Slow to defend, slow to get up ice, on the attack. I think a lot of it (is) just not finding our legs and that makes it difficult to create offence if you&#8217;re not moving and gives them a lot more time and space to make plays.&#8221;</p>
<p>Edmonton won&#8217;t have much time to turn things around, as <a href="http://oilersnation.com/schedule">the next three games</a> are daunting. They&#8217;ll continue this five-game road trip with games Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday against the Florida Panthers and Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.</p>
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<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i></p>
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Edmonton Oilers Washington Capitals Darnell Nurse

The Edmonton Oilers have fallen flat on their faces out of the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/schedule">4 Nations Face-Off break</a>.



Apparently watching teammate Connor McDavid score the game-winning goal to put a Gold Medal around the necks of his countrymen wasn't enough to motivate his teammates to find another level in their game. Instead, McDavid walked back into a tire fire of back-to-back matinees in which his team was outscored a stunning 13-6.
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But that push has to come from somewhere, and after <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/instant-reaction-oilers-fall-7-3-in-washington-and-match-season-high-with-third-consecutive-loss/">losing to the Capitals</a> a day after <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/the-day-after-56-0-sleepy-oilers-fall-to-flyers-as-savoie-shines-in-debut/">falling to the Flyers</a>, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch had choice words for his players.

"Everyone just needs to dig in and get a little bit better," said Knoblauch. "I can't think of anyone that I'm saying 'Oh I really like his game, he's playing outstanding.'

"I think everyone in that room can be a bit better. Some more than others, but I think collectively we can step it up. There's not a flip a switch, there's nothing we can do immediately, everyone just has to be a bit better. Whether that's on our backcheck, our breakout, our passing, our penalty kill. Everything can be a little bit better."

Over the losses, the Oilers got caved in in pretty much every sense of the term. At five-on-five, they were outscored 8-5, controlling just 46.77 percent of the shot attempt share, and a dismal 36.38 percent of the expected goal share. The penalty kill was awful, allowing three goals against on four chances, while the power play went one-for-four.

Poor goaltending didn't help, either, as Stuart Skinner, who started Saturday against Philadelphia, and Calvin Pickard, who went against Washington Sunday, looked like they were playing dodgeball combining for a .800 save percentage. 13 goals against on 43 shots, for those counting at home.

The team looked like a mess all weekend outside of five or so minutes to start <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/02/23/game-preview-57-edmonton-oilers-look-to-avoid-third-straight-loss-in-matinee-versus-washington-capitals-11-am-sportsnet/">Sunday's game</a>. Offensively, too cute. Defensively, not cute enough.

"For me, I thought we just looked slow," said Knoblauch. "Slow to defend, slow to get up ice, on the attack. I think a lot of it (is) just not finding our legs and that makes it difficult to create offence if you're not moving and gives them a lot more time and space to make plays."

Edmonton won't have much time to turn things around, as <a href="http://oilersnation.com/schedule">the next three games</a> are daunting. They'll continue this five-game road trip with games Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday against the Florida Panthers and Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i>

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