For the first time in well over a year, the Edmonton Oilers have lost four consecutive games.

They dropped their last game before the 4 Nations Face-Off to the Colorado Avalanche, they lost both games of a weekend back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, and they were just hammered by a score of 4-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The last time the Oilers dropped four games in a row came in October and November of the 2023-24 season when a 2-9-1 start ultimately cost head coach Jay Woodcroft his job. Six- and seven-game losing skids during the 2021-22 season also resulted in Dave Tippett getting canned as head coach.

It’s difficult to suggest Kris Knoblauch’s job is in jeopardy given he led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season behind the bench, but stranger things have happened. The team’s performance against top-level competition this season has been worrying.

This losing streak suddenly has the Oilers watching behind them in the standings. They’re two points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the Pacific Division with the same amount of games played, but they’re also only three points up on the L.A. Kings, who have three games in hand.

The Oilers will head to South Florida on Thursday for the first time since June when they fell in Game 7 to the Panthers. After that, they’ll play the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday to wrap up this five-game trip through the Eastern Conference.

“We’re in a bit of a hole right now as a team and it’s about resiliency. It’s about sticking with it. We’re gonna have to dig one out here sooner or later. I thought we got off to a good start, but I think at times we’re giving them a little bit too easy of offence.”

“The second period has to be better and we have to try to limit our defensive zone time. But at the end of the day, somebody told me once, ‘It’s usually never as bad as you feel when it’s going bad, and it’s never as great as it feels when it’s going great.’

“So somewhere in there, we’re just going to have to learn from what we did tonight and move on.”

“You’ve got to put those things behind you. We haven’t gone through this tough stretch for a while now. If there’s going to be a time, this is an excellent opportunity. We’re playing some really good teams, so we can’t be not at our best and expect to win those games.”

“We’re a fragile group right now and we’re reluctant to play our game. Confidence is a little hard right now. I think everyone’s a little discouraged. They put a lot of pressure on themselves to win and they view themselves as one of the best in the League. We’ve got to put those adversity moments behind us.”

“We’re not giving up a slew of chances. The odd-man rushes aren’t there. We’ve done a good job of concentrating on the area that you need to win. It sounds simple and boring, but puck management is a big thing. How we’ve managed the puck … we’re letting the game come to us. The guys are working their tails off.”