The Edmonton Oilers took some steps in the right direction Saturday night.

The good: They outshot the Seattle Kraken 33-23, with a +10 shot differential, their highest since Game 2 of the season against the Vancouver Canucks.

The not-so-good: Too few of those pucks went into the Kraken net.

The bad: Off the back of a two-goal performance from old friend Jordan Eberle, Edmonton lost 3-2.

“I think there’s some frustration,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We expect more out of ourselves and playing better, but after a game like the other night where we put up six goals, a lot of guys are feeling good about themselves. We just need to play the right way and tonight for the most part, I thought we did.”

And while some of the players may be feeling good about themselves, it didn’t seem to show as once again the Oilers’ best play didn’t come until late. And once again, a sluggish start put them behind as it took Eberle all of one minute and 23 seconds to open the scoring. Tye Kartye would add Seattle’s second in the second as Edmonton was on the wrong side of the game.

Evan Bouchard would score his first of the season ripping a Bouch Bomb home on the power play later in that frame, before Eberle’s second of the game came partway through the third. As the Oilers continued to push Darnell Nurse would tip a Matias Ekholm shot home, but it was too little, too late.

That’s been a theme of the Oilers this year, who have scored just 14 five-on-five goals so far this season. That’s tied for the third-worst mark in the league, and on a per-hour basis, gives them sole custody of third with a 1.86 goals per hour rate a full two goals below the league-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

Over the previous three regular seasons, the Oilers had been the third strongest five-on-five scoring team, putting up 2.76 goals per hour, but that offence has been nowhere to be found early this season. The Oilers instead have had to bake their bread on the power play — something they’ve always done with ease.

It’s not a formidable plan to win hockey games in the long run and while it’s still the time of season where the Oilers often play their worst hockey, they can’t let this low-scoring continue. A six-goal outburst against the Montreal Canadiens was a good sign that the team can still score, but if you average out their goals per game in the other games, they’ve scored just 20 goals in eight games with a third coming on the power play.

Scoring struggles aside, Knoblauch likes what he saw from his teams game.

“There was a lot of things I liked,” he said. “We had more scoring chances than probably all but one game this year, especially in the third period. I thought we had a lot of pressure. Just some mistakes on giving up chances off the rush.

“Whether that’s a poor bad pinch or the forwards not coming back, just out of sync there. That’s where Seattle had pretty much all their chances off plays like that. Most of it was good — and it’s a very important part — we need to get better at.”

With the Nation Vacation in Vancouver tonight, the Oilers will hope to build off it and find a way to convert on those scoring chances.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.