The Oilers Are Really Struggling

The Edmonton Oilers traveled to Buffalo to begin the second half of their seven-game road trip. Stuart Skinner helped to steal two points against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, but Edmonton’s goaltending has been mediocre all season. The Buffalo Sabres have plenty of talented players who can make you look stupid. Unfortunately, the Oilers’ habit of gifting other teams with giveaways didn’t stop. Monday night’s game ended with an embarrassing result, as the Oilers fell 5-1 to the Sabres.

Being vastly outplayed seems to be the Oilers’ style of play this season. However, getting outplayed by the Eastern Conference’s last-place team, the Sabres, it is cause for concern. These are the same Sabres who are missing five of their top nine forwards due to injuries. Instead of controlling the game, the Oilers displayed another flat and depressing effort. They showed no urgency, failed to adapt to the type of game the Sabres were playing, and showed no emotion. Edmonton’s effort was nothing close to that of a Stanley Cup contender. The whole team looked uninspired.

Jack Roslovic’s goal in the second period temporarily tied the game at 1-1 before the Sabres scored twice in 62 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. The Sabres never looked back after that. As for the Oilers, they gave fans nothing worth watching. It’s as if the entire team folded. There was no pushback, aside from a moment of rage displayed by Vasily Podkolzin when he punched Peyton Krebs into the ice. The Oilers got outworked and embarrassed by a roster missing half its forward group. For a team that keeps saying it wants to raise its standard, they sure don’t look like it right now.

Oilers Just Don’t Look Good

Through 21 games, the Edmonton Oilers have scored 63 goals, but have given up 75. Almost every game looks the same, with nothing changing but the line combinations. There was plenty of puck possession around the edges, a healthy amount of shots, but from the outside, and almost nothing from the slot or in tight. Teams do not win many games when trading low-danger chances for high-danger ones. The Oilers seem to be on the wrong side of things more often than not this year.

A big concern right now is how little the Oilers seem to fight for space. Their drive up the middle is inconsistent from everyone except Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman. The team is not generating enough second chances off rebounds, and they’re not getting enough traffic in front of the net to make life difficult for the opposing goalie. For a team built around elite offensive talent, they are not acting like an offensive threat. Until that changes, fans should continue expecting similar results to Monday’s loss to the Sabres.