The Edmonton Oilers have lost four straight games and in that time have been outscored 22-11. They have been completely outplayed in their first three games on a road trip in the Eastern Conference, in losses to the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning since the Four Nations Faceoff.
This simply does not look anything remotely like the Oilers squad that reached the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals that lost in seven games to the Florida Panthers. The penalty killing has been poor, the defense has been bad, the goaltending needs to better, there is unproductive play in the neutral zone, and the power-play is simply not consistent and dominant. One must be significantly concerned by the play of the Oilers captain and leader Connor McDavid. We all know what a wonderful Four Nations Faceoff he had, but lately you could make the argument that the player who is considered by many as the best player in the game today is having one of his worst stretches as an Oiler.
