NHL fans, what a wild game just happened! Riding high going into their February 7th encounter with the Colorado Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker. Despite their crucial penalty kill, they had great chances but couldn’t finish. There was some seriously intense back-and-forth action as well as some seriously brutal mistakes that ultimately sank them. Coach Kris Knoblauch wasn’t sugarcoating it after the game. This was a match the Oilers should’ve won, but they couldn’t quite make the most of it.

“The power play that we gave up tonight led to a goal against the Chicago late in the game. There are, you know, a couple turnovers on the breakouts. Yeah, those are things that we want to clean up, and we’re never going to play a perfect game. There’s going to be mistakes, there are going to be turnovers, but we want to limit those a little bit more,” Knoblauch expressed in his post-game interview. And to be honest, he’s not wrong for saying that. Yup, those defensive breakdowns and turnovers? Total killers. It’s a problem the Oilers have had in their past games, and it’s a problem they brought to the Avalanche game as well.

But things don’t end there, as it was not only about careless turnovers. “Tonight the goals that we gave up early in the game, you know, we were able to respond, but you know, I think we had every opportunity to win that game after the penalty kill. After that five-on-three kill, we had some great scoring chances going the other way; we didn’t capitalize on those, and then they had some good chances minutes later. Shortly after that, they did capitalize on one,” Knoblauch added. The Oilers had numerous opportunities to hop on to the initiative, especially after they thwarted a massive five-on-three power play. Even after having all the momentum, they still failed to capitalize on it. They could only watch as the Avalanche immediately turned the tide and scored. Pretty difficult.

And with all the offensive firepower the Edmonton Oilers have, including Leon Draisaitl scoring 40 goals this season, they just couldn’t get it done. This was a game where they had several chances to win, but the small errors accumulated. Kris Knoblauch put it well in his post-game assessment. The Avalanche weren’t going to let them off the hook. Game over.

What exactly went wrong for the Edmonton Oilers?

Okay, let’s dissect how things went wrong during the game. It started with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who scored a power-play goal in the first period to take the lead. The Edmonton Oilers, however, had no intention of backing down but were unable to snatch back the lead. Just 51 seconds later, Leon Draisaitl answered, tying the score with a one-timer ripped from the spot. Then, demonstrating why he is such a stud, Cale Makar gave Colorado the lead once more with a slick wrist shot off the rush.

This would set the tone of what ended up being a wholly back-and-forth game. Each team made overtures to regain the lead, but ultimately, it was the Oilers who were left chasing the whole time, unable to go ahead even once. It was a high-octane, high-scoring game with one casualty: the goaltender.

Stuart Skinner had a game to forget; it simply was not a good night for him. After the first period, Skinner was pulled from the game after giving up three goals on just twelve shots. He gave up goals that he should have saved and ended the game with a paltry .750 save percentage. Knoblauch commented on the goaltending change simply, with little fanfare. “I don’t think he had much opportunity on the third one, but made a nice save at the end of the period,” Knoblauch said. “But the first two, I felt like he could’ve had.”

But hockey is a game of who scores the most goals, not who makes the most saves. And that’s where the Oilers’ susceptibility to turnovers reared its ugly head. As the game stood at a 4-4 deadlock, it was Zach Hyman‘s offensive zone turnover that was the catalyst for the Avs’ game-winning goal. The Avalanche made a meal of the Oilers’ mistakes, getting goals off of their errors and sealing the deal in the third period.

Although it was an intense game, the Oilers genuinely did have a chance to win. But they lost because of the defensive errors, missed chances, and repetitive mistakes that they made. This gave the Avalanche an in, and they did not hesitate in front of the opportunities that the Oilers presented them with. Kris Knoblauch was spot on in his interview. The Edmonton Oilers must start over and clean up their game because they cannot continue making such errors if they want to be Cup contenders come spring. What do you guys think about it? Let us know in the comments below!