This is not the first time Edmonton Oilers found themselves in this position. And that's the problem.
Two and a half weeks ago, Connor McDavidHis club took the ice against the Colorado Avalanche under the lights of Rogers Place, fell behind 5-0 midway through the game and ended the night with a brutal 9-1 loss.
“I definitely hope this is rock bottom for us,” head coach Chris Knoblauch. said that night. “Hopefully this will wake up a lot of guys and we realize we still have a lot of growing to do to be a good hockey team.”
Nine games later, the Oil were back again, Knoblauch's group withstanding an 8-3 barrage from the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night as the same ghosts haunted Edmonton.
If it's possible after being down five goals, the final score might even flatter the Oilers. In truth, the night was over after 20 minutes: Dallas scored four goals in the first period, added two more in each of the next two frames, and allowed the Oilers to score a few goals of their own only when it became clear that the advantage was all but won. Not to mention, the Stars scored their ninth goal of the night only to see it waved away due to a high stick.
Perhaps most troubling for the Oilers faithful, however, is the fact that they've seen this game before. The same issues that stymied Edmonton's effort against Colorado appeared to seep into their game again Tuesday night, destroying the goodwill built up over a two-week, seven-game road trip that seemed to have the Oilers moving in the right direction.
Instead, this match featured the same turnovers in the defensive zone, the same lack of fight, the same troubling goalkeeping problems.
Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on Dallas' first eight shots before being sent off at the first intermission. His colleague isn't doing much better, Calvin Pickard took over and allowed four goals on 22 shots the rest of the game.
It's a situation that Oilers fans are all too familiar with, and one that the entire hockey world seems to be studying closely season after season. However, while any goalkeeper's performance would be appreciated on a night like this, in the captain's eyes, the loss does not rest on their shoulders.
“I really feel like being a goalie is a team effort,” McDavid told the media after Tuesday’s game. “It's hard for goalkeepers to look good when the group in front of them isn't playing well. I don't care who it is – when the team in front of them isn't playing at their level, it's hard for a goalie to look good. I felt bad for both of them tonight.”
“I mean, what should they do?” – the German center asked after the game. “They're part of the team too, and I'm sure they'll tell you themselves that sometimes they can be better… But there's only so much they can do. We're giving up first-class image after first-class image.
“You can't expect a goalie to stop every single one of them and win the game 3-1. It doesn't work. We just need to be a lot better for them.”
However, there's no denying that the Oilers find themselves in a tough spot when it comes to their confidence in the tandem manning their cage. With a quarter of the season under his belt, Pickard's save percentage (.847) ranks as the fourth-lowest goalie to play in the NHL this season. Skinner's .878 ranks 15th lowest in the league and sixth lowest among regulars.
Disjointed defensive play continues to sink Oilers
As was clear from numbers 97 and 29, on this occasion Skinner and Picard received little help from the group in front of them. Watch the film again on each of Dallas' goals, and you'll see familiar trends – lost battles, mistimed concessions and a defensive group that overall looks disjointed.
It all started with Dallas' first goal, when Wyatt Johnston flew behind the Oilers' cage, stole the puck from Evan Bouchard and spun around the net, setting up Jamie Benn for the first goal. The Stars' second goal came from Roope Hintz, who took the ball in the slot with no one around him and fired home. Goal #3 resulted in Brett Kulak losing a battle against the wall in the neutral zone, sending Dallas flying to Skinner on a 2-on-1. In Game 4, Stars veteran Mattias Ekholm threw the puck into the wall right on his opponent, sparking a sequence in which Dallas came back and put another puck on the board—again, beating the Edmonton defense in the net and around them.
This was only the first period.
You can forgive the 5-on-3 goal for Jason Robertson, who extended his goal streak to seven games and 11 goals, as well as the league's leading power play. But before the evening was over, the Stars scored three more goals, outlasting Edmonton in front of the Oilers' cage.
“I think it has to do with all of that,” McDavid said after the game when asked about the club's ongoing defensive woes. “We're not handling the puck well enough and that's leading to a lot of time in our D-zone. That's what it's all about. We're not getting on the ice, we're not fore-checking the pucks and we're playing too much in the D-zone.”
“Not a lot of D-zone systems can handle 30, 40 (seconds) minutes in your D-zone. It's hard to defend.”
According to Draisaitl, it's not just the details that bog them down, but a general lack of cohesion.
“As a group, we're clearly not on the same page,” the center player assessed Tuesday. “And then all of a sudden there are a lot of things that come to light that when you're on the same page don't come out. We're just not in sync as a group and we need to figure out that part.
“We've played almost 30 games and we still don't seem to understand what we are. I don't even know what to say. It just wasn't good enough.”
Clattenburg's wrecking ball is the only bright spot for the home team
The Ottawa graduate was included in the lineup for his second NHL game, while the Oil is still without the injured Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen. And the six-foot-two, 215-pound wrecking ball made his presence known all night, throwing his body and showing off some much-needed leap amid his Oilers' nearly lifeless play.
Clattenburg's best moment came early in the second period as Edmonton looked to bounce back from a 4-0 first-period tie. The crowd was silent except for a few sarcastic cheers for Pickard as he made his first pair of saves of the night, Clattenburg crashing into Stars defenseman Jake Oettinger behind the net. The puck was thrown to the corner, so he continued to fight there.
Before his shift was over, the puck found its way to Ty Amberson's spot—the Oilers defenseman sent it into the net as Clattenburg fought for position in front. As the rebound reached the edge of the crease, Clattenburg stood his ground, found the ball in the chaos and slotted it into the net.
The fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft ended the night with his first NHL goal and seven hits to his name – more than double the other players on the team – demonstrating just how much of a contender his club appears to be in dire need of more right now.
