Thursday was Connor McDavid’s night. A match-winning overtime goal to frustrate your bitter rivals’ hopes of clinching a best-on-best trophy for the first time in more than two decades? It cannot get better than that. But good times seldom last long.

While McDavid finished the 4 Nations Face-Off as a champion with his national team, his NHL team hasn’t had the best of runs since it resumed action. The Edmonton Oilers suffered a loss. Again. This time against Alex Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals. Naturally, the media flocked to the Canadian star to know what his thoughts were about the Oiler’s recent form.

“Everything, you know, just to that haven’t been very good,” said McDavid. However, he has no intention of sulking. When a reporter asked what past experiences he and his team plan to take inspiration from, McDavid kept it simple: “Just getting back to work, you know.” But then again even a short hiatus can disrupt a team’s form. “Sometimes this happens after breaks. Some teams come up flying, some teams come up flat. We’ve obviously done the latter. So, got to get back to it here,” added McDavid.

But just because he is looking to flip the page and not overthink does not mean that he wasn’t critical of his team’s recent performances. In the same interview, McDavid also got candid about what the Oilers did wrong.

Connor McDavid on shameful back-to-back shortcomings 

Although both of the last two games ended in defeat for the Oilers, McDavid thinks they lost them for different reasons. “You know, I thought we had the puck more against Philly. And we as you said gave them offense.” Well, they gave them offense alright. The Flyers scored 6 goals in the game, while the Oilers could only manage 3. McDavid? He ended the game with 0 points. 

As for the game against the Capitals, Connor McDavid struggled to find any high points in the Oilers’ play. “I thought tonight we struggled all around. They played really well.” And although the Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard received a lot of flak for letting in 6 goals before he was pulled for an attacker, McDavid thought that had it not been for him, the score could have been far worse than 7-3. “Picks did a great job just keeping them at what we kept them at or what he kept him at,” added the Canadian forward. 

Just to recap, the Oilers hadn’t gone into the international break with a win either. But that game against Colorado Avalanche was still tight, with only one goal between the two teams. But on February 23, the Oilers allowed Alex Ovechkin to run riot as the Russian scored his 32nd career hat-trick to bring himself closer to Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Connor McDavid’s team still holds the second position in the Pacific Divison, but they better buckle up soon. And their next game against Tampa Bay Lightning would be a good place to start. What do you think? Will the Oilers be able to bounce back or the slump continue? Let us know in the comments.