EDMONTON — Connor McDavid was frustrated after the Edmonton Oilers’ recent setbacks in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place.
This is not how McDavid and the Oilers expected to start the 2023-2024 season. The expected Stanley Cup contender (2-7-1) has lost two games and six of its last seven (1-5-1).
They sit in seventh place in the Pacific Division, 18 points behind the first place Vegas Golden Knights. “I feel like I’m dying of a thousand cuts,” McDavid said. “One mistake costs you, another small mistake costs you money. “Watching the game is difficult
the Oilers will look to turn things around when they begin a three-game road series at the Vancouver Canucks on Monday (10 a.m. ET, TVAS, SN).”I always hate to talk about the last few years, but last year we started 7-3, went 3-7 and finished 10-10,” McDavid said. “We started the last and the next 10 games are important for our group.
“The Oilers have yet to win a game at Rogers Place this season (0-4-1). Their only home win came in the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic, held outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium on October 1. 29 (5-2, vs. Calgary Flames).”
Our battle is on the ice,” McDavid said. “That’s what you get when you have 2-7-1.
It feels like a battle is going on all over the ice.On Saturday, Edmonton took a 1-0 lead against Nashville on a power-play goal by defenseman Darnell Nurse at 9:57 of the first period.
But just 25 seconds later, they conceded an equalizer to Filip Forsberg.The Oilers then allowed a goal 23 seconds into the second period (the first of three by Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly). They were down 3-1 when O’Reilly scored a power play goal at 3:24.
The chase continued from then on, with Edmonton unable to close the gap.”It was kind of the same as last night (Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars),” McDavid said.
“I thought we got off to a good start, but we had mental mistakes that cost us time and time again and we got to chase the game and chasing the game is difficult in this league.
“The Oilers return most of their roster after finishing second in the Pacific Division (50-23-9) last season. That includes the NHL’s top two scorers last season: McDavid (153 points, 64 goals, 89 assists) and Leon Draisaitl (128 points, 52 goals, 76 assists).
They lost to the eventual Cup champion Golden Knights in the second round of the Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoffs.Things have not gone well this season.
The Oilers struggle defensively, allowing an average of 4.10 goals per game (third-most in the NHL), but are also averaging just 2.70 goals per game (tied for 23rd) .
Last season, Edmonton led the NHL in scoring with 325 goals, averaging 3.96 goals per game. McDavid had an assist against Nashville but has not scored in the last five games.
He missed two games with a hamstring injury, in a 3–2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on October 1. 21. The next day, the next day, McDavid said he would go for 1-2 weeks, but returned in time to play in classical music.
He has 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 8 games this season, and when asked if he’s 100% healthy, he simply answered yes.McDavid was also asked what he thought of his game.”It’s not what I expected, but maybe it’s better,” he said.
McDavid isn’t the only player struggling on offense. Draisaitl has 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 10 games, but has not scored in his last seven games.
Forward Matthias Janmark has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, but has not scored a point in the first seven games.
Infielder Connor Brown went hitless through the first nine games, but suffered a hamstring injury in the loss to Dallas and missed the game against Nashville.
Forward Ryan McLeod scored his first point in 10 games Saturday, assisting on Nurse’s goal, while forward Dylan Holloway went 10 points without scoring.
“I think we’re going to win every game. If we don’t, I’m not happy,” Oilers forward Jack Hyman said. “I think it will continue to be this way. It’s not fun. We know how good we can be and we know what got us to this position. There is no magic pill. All we have to do is go out and fix it.
The saddest thing is that it failed to fix the bugs that still exist in the game.
We have the recipe, we know what to do, all we have to do is get out there and do it.
