I thought Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Flyers was as painful as it gets, but then I watched the Edmonton Oilers get demolished 7-3 by the Washington Capitals and felt that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. That, my friends, is a harsh lesson on perspective.

I may not be smart enough to come up with new and creative ways to describe Leon Draisaitl’s fantastic season after every game he plays, but I will never tire of trying anyway. No matter what has happened with the Oilers this season, Draisaitl has been a pillar of offensive consistency, and it’s turning into the kind of season we’ll be talking about for a long time. Not only is he running away with the NHL goal lead, but it doesn’t look like anyone has any ideas of how to stop him. The problem, of course, is that he can’t be the only one contributing.

Right now, there are way too many games where Leon Draisaitl is doing most of the offensive lifting, and that’s a problem that needs to be fixed immediately. As much as I love seeing Draisaitl in warlord mode, the team won’t get very far if we don’t get some goal from other spots in the lineup. Draisaitl can’t be the only one we can count on to score goals, but that’s where we’re at right now, and the losses we’re getting aren’t the least bit surprising.

He may take about 15 strides per game at this point in his career, but Alex Ovechkin can still rifle the puck, can’t he? I mean, both of the goals he scored against the Oilers came on rocket shots that were basically unstoppable. Didn’t his first two goals both look like vintage Ovi? Either way, the hat trick puts Ovechkin only 13 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets there this year based on how he’s pumping pucks into the back of the net.

What’s most amazing about Ovechkin’s goal record chase is that he would have easily gotten there if he didn’t have so much hockey wiped out in his career. The guy has seen multiple lockouts and a COVID-shortened season that robbed him of some of his prime scoring years, and it’s almost a shame that we’ll never know how many goals he could have had had those events not happened. Even so, we’re watching the best goal scorer the NHL has ever seen, and as much as it was annoying to watch him score against our beloved Oilers, it’s hard not to soak in the moment when you’re watching history happen.

Viktor Arvidsson‘s first season with the Oilers has been a mess, and it’s almost making me regret how excited I was to get him on free agency day. When Arvidsson is at his best, he can be an incredibly effective forward in terms of producing both offence and chaos around the net. This season, however, we’re not getting either of things from him. He doesn’t look anything like the guy who scored 30 goals twice with the Nashville Predators or even the one that popped 26 goals in L.A. two years ago.

I don’t think I have to explain to anyone reading this why it’s a problem that the Oilers have got $4 million tied up in a guy with seven goals this season, but that’s the state we’re in with Arvidsson right now. Outside of the occasional flash that reminds of how skilled he can be, the rest of the time is spent wanting for more. Couple the offensive issues with a bad penalty like the one he took that led to Tom Wilson’s goal, and you’ve got the recipe for another frustrating out for a guy who was supposed to be able to chip in now and then.

Sunday’s loss in Washington marks Edmonton’s first three-game losing streak since the first three games of the season. Not great, friends. Not great at all when you look at the three games that are left on this road trip. The boys are in Tampa Bay on Tuesday, Florida on Thursday, and wrap up the trip in Carolina on Saturday, which is a murderer’s row of opponents to face at the best of times let alone when they’re struggling this badly. Unless Edmonton can turn this ship around in a hurry, we could find ourselves in a whole by the time the week is over.

1.  Pain.

2. I’m not going to try and defend Calvin Pickard’s numbers against the Capitals, but I will say that I feel sorry for him for having to face a firing squad while the team in front of him didn’t do much to prevent it from happening. I’d trade Gregor’s kingdom for a goalie at this point.

3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left the Oilers’ bench with TD Forss midway through the second period, but did return later in the frame. Who knows what the issue was, but it could be something that we end up watching down the line. On the bright side, Nuge picked up an even strength goal in the third period to narrow the gap — I’m being generous — and give him two points on the day.

4. I wanted to be happier about Jeff Skinner’s 11th goal of the season, but the game was already over at that point, so the marker almost like putting lipstick on a pig.

5. The Oilers were sloppy with the puck again on Sunday, giving it away 10 times according to the NHL boxscore. That number seems extremely light to me given that the Oilers were feeling especially generous with their giveaways from my side of the TV screen. Then again, they also didn’t have the puck much so many that number makes more sense than I thought.

6. Getting only 25 shots on goal after being limited to only 18 against the Flyers on Saturday was completely unacceptable. I don’t know what’s with their insistence on passing the puck around the perimeter rather than putting pucks on net, but what I can tell you for sure is that it’s almost impossible to score when you don’t shoot.

7. I like starting plays with the puck, and one way to do that is to win faceoffs. The Oilers won only 44.9% of those draws against the Capitals, and we were given yet another reason to be disappointed.

Get ready, hockey fans! The Daily Faceoff Deadline is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we’ve got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!