Oilers Top of NHL for All the Wrong Reasons After Second Straight Meltdown

The Edmonton Oilers' shootout loss at the hands of the Dallas Stars has far-reaching consequences for the team.

Bad luck seems to chase the Edmonton Oilers around like a shadow. After a humbling defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center, the men in blue and orange were slain by the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday. The Oilers’ relentless failures elude all logic and reason for a team that made the Stanley Cup finals a few months ago.

Edmonton’s consistent poor showing has put the team in an unfortunate position in the league this season, something nobody had anticipated, all things considered.

Following Loss Against the Dallas Stars, the Edmonton Oilers are in a Real Bad Place

In the absolute sense, according to the rankings, the Oilers may be second in the Pacific Division with 16 points, behind the Seattle Kraken. However, that does little to excuse the questionable performance the team has been putting up lately, to the extent that the Oilers have created history, albeit not in a way they would have liked to.

According to Sportsnet Stats, the season marked the first time in history that the Edmonton-based outfit has “lost 4 games when leading by multiple goals within the first 15 games of a season.”

It is really an embarrassing turn of events when the team loses a game that they were leading by multiple goals for the fourth time. McDavid had brought the scoreboard to 3-1 at 7:51 in the third period. How does a team lose track after this point?

Fans are left wondering if the extensive playoff experience the Oilers have gathered over the last few years was worth anything at all.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet Canada drew upon that sentiment, “But as the Oilers set a team record with yet another multi-goal lead blown — this time a pair of two-goal leads in a 4-3 shootout loss at Dallas — you do begin to wonder what all that experience from all of those hard-fought playoff games over the past five years is really worth.”

Jason Gregor drew the community’s attention to another worrying statistic. The Oilers have only two goals on 11 shootout attempts so far this season. It goes without saying that Kris Knoblauch has a lot to address before the team skates again.

Edmonton has a lot of homework to do, although goalie Stuart Skinner’s .889 save percentage was marginally better than opponent Casey DeSmith’s .885, the goaltending situation as a whole could improve, and so could the team’s defense. The Oilers need to reflect on how Mikko Rantanen could thoroughly overpower the Stanley Cup finalists to salvage a multi-goal deficit and turn the day in the Stars’ favor.

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