<p>It wasn&#8217;t pretty, but the Edmonton Oilers cauterized the wound that was a losing streak to start the season.</p>
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<p>They fell to the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/10/the-day-after-1-0-oilers-raise-western-conference-banner-but-dont-have-banner-night/">Winnipeg Jets</a>, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/13/the-day-after-2-0-are-the-out-of-sync-oilers-struggling-to-get-over-stanley-cup-finals-loss/">Chicago Blackhawks</a>, and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/14/the-day-after-3-0-everyone-can-be-better-says-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-of-0-3-start/">Calgary Flames</a>, leading to a Tuesday night showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers — at least early on — which had all the same trends as the previous trio: Early goals against, referees taking Oilers goals off the board, and far too many undisciplined penalties.</p>
<p>The Oilers faced 2-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/16/watch-two-fights-help-spark-oilers-comeback-against-flyers/">before a pair of fights</a> and a pair of goals, including a Leon Draisaitl overtime winner, saw the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/15/instant-reaction-the-oilers-are-finally-in-the-win-column/">Oilers come out on top</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re scratching for some points here early on, so any points we can get is big,&#8221; said Draisaitl after the game. &#8220;It was nice to come back and win the game.&#8221;</p>
<p>It took all of 9:21 into the game for things to fall off the rails for the Oilers, as Flyers rookie sensation Matvei Michkov would score not only his first goal, but his second, both with the man advantage. They came off the backs of a too-meny-men on the ice call and a sloppy Corey Perry slashing call, only to further highlight the Oilers&#8217; early penalty kill struggles.</p>
<p>After Tuesday&#8217;s affair, which saw them give the Flyers seven power plays, Edmonton&#8217;s penalty kill sits at a league worst 56.3 percent, having now given up a staggering seven power play goals against on 16 attempts. While Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch knows those numbers won&#8217;t sustain, he highlighted after Tuesday&#8217;s win there needs to be better discipline.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think tonight, we as a group, took some penalties we didn&#8217;t need to take,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If we&#8217;re going to have success, we obviously have to stay out of the penalty box, and our penalty kill&#8217;s going to come up clutch and kill penalties at a better rate than they are right now.</p>
<p>&#8220;We know that&#8217;s going to happen, but we just ultimately have to stay out of the penalty box, and play our game, make it easier on ourselves so we can play on the attack, at five-on-five, and even be drawing penalties.&#8221;</p>
<p>Draisaitl caught the brunt of a sloppy penalty as after taking a cross-checking penalty with eight seconds left in the second, shortly after Bobby Brink made it 3-2, he would miss his spot in the line rotation for a few shifts. Knoblauch didn&#8217;t directly address the penalty or apparent benching, but he didn&#8217;t need to. The message was sent.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/16/watch-two-fights-help-spark-oilers-comeback-against-flyers/">Troy Stecher and Corey Perry each fought a pair of Flyers back-to-back</a>, the Oilers got some life, and it was none other than Draisaitl who helped lead that charge.</p>
<p>Goals from Adam Henrique and Connor Brown helped keep the Oilers in the mix, and with under four minutes left in the third period, Draisaitl&#8217;s work along the wall in the offensive zone helped set up Connor McDavid to feed Evan Bouchard. Flying down from the point, Bouchard got enough of the puck to send it past Samuel Ersson.</p>
<p>Then, in three-on-three overtime, McDavid was stoned on a breakaway opportunity, only for Draisaitl to get the puck all alone in the slot, wiring one past Ersson. That&#8217;s the ball game, folks.</p>
<p>The Oilers have stopped the bleeding, now getting the monkey off the back in front of a hometown crowd treated to the sounds of <em>La Bamba</em> for the first time in the regular season. They have a chance to continue to build momentum with a two-game road trip taking them through Nashville on Thusdsay, before visiting the Stars next Saturday for a 2 p.m. MST puckdrop.</p>
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<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i></p>
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It wasn't pretty, but the Edmonton Oilers cauterized the wound that was a losing streak to start the season.


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They fell to the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/10/the-day-after-1-0-oilers-raise-western-conference-banner-but-dont-have-banner-night/">Winnipeg Jets</a>, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/13/the-day-after-2-0-are-the-out-of-sync-oilers-struggling-to-get-over-stanley-cup-finals-loss/">Chicago Blackhawks</a>, and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/14/the-day-after-3-0-everyone-can-be-better-says-oilers-captain-connor-mcdavid-of-0-3-start/">Calgary Flames</a>, leading to a Tuesday night showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers — at least early on — which had all the same trends as the previous trio: Early goals against, referees taking Oilers goals off the board, and far too many undisciplined penalties.

The Oilers faced 2-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/16/watch-two-fights-help-spark-oilers-comeback-against-flyers/">before a pair of fights</a> and a pair of goals, including a Leon Draisaitl overtime winner, saw the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/15/instant-reaction-the-oilers-are-finally-in-the-win-column/">Oilers come out on top</a>.

"We're scratching for some points here early on, so any points we can get is big," said Draisaitl after the game. "It was nice to come back and win the game."

It took all of 9:21 into the game for things to fall off the rails for the Oilers, as Flyers rookie sensation Matvei Michkov would score not only his first goal, but his second, both with the man advantage. They came off the backs of a too-meny-men on the ice call and a sloppy Corey Perry slashing call, only to further highlight the Oilers' early penalty kill struggles.

After Tuesday's affair, which saw them give the Flyers seven power plays, Edmonton's penalty kill sits at a league worst 56.3 percent, having now given up a staggering seven power play goals against on 16 attempts. While Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch knows those numbers won't sustain, he highlighted after Tuesday's win there needs to be better discipline.

"I think tonight, we as a group, took some penalties we didn't need to take," he said. "If we're going to have success, we obviously have to stay out of the penalty box, and our penalty kill's going to come up clutch and kill penalties at a better rate than they are right now.

"We know that's going to happen, but we just ultimately have to stay out of the penalty box, and play our game, make it easier on ourselves so we can play on the attack, at five-on-five, and even be drawing penalties."

Draisaitl caught the brunt of a sloppy penalty as after taking a cross-checking penalty with eight seconds left in the second, shortly after Bobby Brink made it 3-2, he would miss his spot in the line rotation for a few shifts. Knoblauch didn't directly address the penalty or apparent benching, but he didn't need to. The message was sent.

After <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/16/watch-two-fights-help-spark-oilers-comeback-against-flyers/">Troy Stecher and Corey Perry each fought a pair of Flyers back-to-back</a>, the Oilers got some life, and it was none other than Draisaitl who helped lead that charge.

Goals from Adam Henrique and Connor Brown helped keep the Oilers in the mix, and with under four minutes left in the third period, Draisaitl's work along the wall in the offensive zone helped set up Connor McDavid to feed Evan Bouchard. Flying down from the point, Bouchard got enough of the puck to send it past Samuel Ersson.

Then, in three-on-three overtime, McDavid was stoned on a breakaway opportunity, only for Draisaitl to get the puck all alone in the slot, wiring one past Ersson. That's the ball game, folks.

The Oilers have stopped the bleeding, now getting the monkey off the back in front of a hometown crowd treated to the sounds of <em>La Bamba</em> for the first time in the regular season. They have a chance to continue to build momentum with a two-game road trip taking them through Nashville on Thusdsay, before visiting the Stars next Saturday for a 2 p.m. MST puckdrop.

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i>

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