Things have gone from bad to worse for the Edmonton Oilers, who were crushed 8-3 by the Dallas Stars on home ice on Tuesday night. It's been a brutal start for the back-to-back defending Western Conference champions, who are now 10-10-5 and sixth place in the Pacific Division.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch shared a simple request after the embarrassing loss.
“Everybody has to step up,” he told reporters afterwards.
The Oil have now lost four of their last five games, and five of seven dating back to November 13. The defensive side of the puck hasn't been anywhere near good enough for a team of this caliber; Edmonton is allowing 3.72 goals against per game, which is 30th league wide.
They're also boasting a league-worst .868 save percentage, which isn't a recipe for any kind of success in the National Hockey League.
“Right from the first shift we were flat, we had the puck and make several plays and then we end up getting stuck in there and that first shift was pretty much a precursor to how we played the rest of the game,” Knoblauch continued. “And then we made some mistakes. And there were some bad ones, so I don’t want to put this on our goalies. But there were some crucial mistakes where we left them exposed at the net.”
Significant concern setting in for Oilers
Even with key forward Zach Hyman back in the lineup, the Oilers have been unable to secure any kind of meaningful momentum. They can't keep the puck out of their net, with both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard continuing to leave a lot to be desired between the pipes.
Skinner was pulled on Tuesday after allowing four goals on eight shots in the first period; Pickard ended up allowing the same amount of goals, while making 18 saves.
Leon Draisaitl's comments after the game certainly won't make Edmonton fans feel any better after the lopsided defeat.
“I don’t really have an answer right now. It’s just really, start to finish, not good enough,” said the German superstar, per NHL.com's Gerry Moddejonge. “It’s very concerning. Everything is very concerning. We’re nearly 30 games in and still don’t seem to have it down or know what we are.
“I don’t really know what to say, it’s just not good enough right now.”
The Oilers have been known to start seasons slow as of late, but there is obviously a ton of concern surrounding the franchise in 2025-26. The silver lining is that Edmonton is still just two points back of the final wildcard berth in the Western Conference.
The team will now have three full days off to try to reset before flying to Seattle to play the Kraken on Saturday night. After that, Edmonton opens up a five-game homestand at Rogers Place between December 2-11.
