Something just isn’t quite right for the Edmonton Oilers, as for the second straight year, they’ve gone winless in their first two games.
They dropped the season opener last Wednesday to the Winnipeg Jets, falling 6-0, facing a similar result Saturday night, getting outscored 5-2 by a Chicago Blackhawks team who shouldn’t be close to beating the Oilers like they did.
Maybe it’s the fact there was significant turnover in key parts of the roster. The top-six features two new players, Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, flanking Leon Draisaitl. The fourth line has some new flavour with the addition of Vasily Podkolzin, while the blue line has been completely revamped, losing Vincent Desharnais, Cody Ceci and Philip Broberg, replacing them with Travis Dermott, Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher, the latter of whom never really getting acquainted with team last year.
Maybe it’s the fact that the Oilers just need to have pressure on them. That’s what last season looked like for the team, leading to an awful start, a coaching change and the need to play excellent hockey. The turnaround in their season is well-discussed at this point, featuring multiple winnings streaks — including a 16-gamer — and the need to overcome playoff series deficits against the Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers, to even have hopes of playing in a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Or maybe it’s the fact that, once again, the Oilers are struggling to process a disappointing end to their previous year. Kicking off their 2023-24 campaign, Edmonton lost each of their first two games in ugly fashion to the Canucks, falling 8-1 and 4-3, having been eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the 2023 playoffs. Edmonton had that series tied up at two a piece, but the Cup-winning Knights found another level, closing it in six games.
The end of last season, mind you, marked the third straight where the eventual Stanley Cup winner eliminated the team, something that undoubtedly would weigh on them. After the Oilers’ loss to the Jets Wednesday, oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch alluded to the potential of that being the case.
“I think it’s tough. You obviously had an incredible year, finished with disappointment, and it’s tough to say ‘forget about it,’ let’s just think about now,” he said, “But there’s a point where we need to do that.”
The team got their wakeup call last year that brought Knoblauch from the benches of Hartford, but that’s not something they can afford to go through again.
“You give up five and six, you’re not going to outscore that most nights,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who notched his 700th career point last night. “At the same time, we have been around it. I guess it’s just a matter of battling, finding a way to put it in, getting those second and third opportunities and playing off that. We have been around it. It’s nice we get back at it tomorrow.”
Saturday’s loss felt similar to that of Wednesday’s against the Jets, where it wasn’t massive breakdowns that cost the Oilers, but rather small mistakes the opposition was able to capitalize on. It doesn’t help that in both games the Oilers penalty kill — something that was a strong suit and key area of success during last year’s playoffs — has given up two goals against in each game.
There’s personnel change there, but as Knoblauch alluded to after the game, it’s not as simple as blaming that.
“We’ve been scored on when our four guys who were here last year have been on the ice together, and we’ve been scored on when the new guys have been out there, too,” he said. “So just to say it’s because we have new guys is not good enough, but there is some guys getting familiar with the system. Not only them getting used to the system, but them knowing whose on the ice, when they pressure, their tendencies and everyone was locked in and in sync in the playoffs.
“Right now, obviously, we’re not in sync.”
The Oilers will look to get back in sync tonight, hosting the Calgary Flames for a 6:00 p.m. MST start.
If this year, at least early on, is to mirror the previous, the Oilers’ third game of the 2023-24 season saw them beat the Nashville Predators 6-1 on a night where Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had four points.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist and makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
