In a season that got off on the wrong foot and has been there ever since, Friday’s 6-3 loss to the infinitely better Carolina Hurricanes might have been the worst gut punch of all.
This was supposed to be the Oilers coming out party. They had three new players brought in to address three specific needs. They were in the final stretch drive, with their playoff spot in jeopardy, so getting up for games was no longer going to be a problem. And they were coming face-to-face with a contender, which was supposed to bring out the best in all of them.
It’s hard to think of any other game against Carolina that the Oilers wanted to win more.
And they got rolled over. In a game that was close for a while, all the usual holes in this team started letting in water again. A soft goal or two. A wide-open Carolina player getting a free look on a couple of goals. A few breakaways. And, by the end of the night, with the Oilers outshot 32-16 on their own ice, the reality of this thing started to really hit home.
Forget the excuses. This team just might not be good enough anymore.
This season-long drama was entertaining for a while. The inconsistency makes for good copy and it keeps fans on the edge of their seats, but now it’s getting scary.
One loss doesn’t define them, but 63 games is a pretty good sample size. The Oilers woke up Saturday morning in third place in the Pacific, four points back of second-place Vegas, who they play on Saturday in a massive contest, and only one point ahead of fourth-place Seattle, who have two games in hand.
Carolina Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen (31) makes a save on Edmonton Oilers’ Evan Bouchard (2) as Nikolaj Ehlers (27) chases during second period NHL action, in Edmonton on Friday March 6, 2026.
It’s time to face the cold, harsh reality — they might not make the playoffs. Or they might finish in the second wildcard spot, which is pretty much the same thing as not making the playoffs, since they’ll be eliminated in the first round.
The Oilers have no choice but to believe they can turn this around, but time is running out, and the evidence is mounting. They are 21st overall in points percentage, 29th in goals against, and 25th on the penalty kill. They’ve allowed 56 goals against in the last 12 games. Those are damning statistics this late in the season.
“We have a strong belief in this group,” said Zach Hyman. “Obviously, things haven’t gone as expected or as planned, but having said that, you look around the league, you look at our division and it’s right there for us.
“The optimism is that we’re a team that has been to the Cup final back-to-back. I think we’re a really good team and the pieces that we’ve added are going to be really good for us and it’s just a matter of putting it together and doing it and then all of a sudden the division is open.”
They talk about digging in and playing playoff hockey, but they’re still dipsy-doodling and turning pucks over at the offensive blue line, still overpassing instead of shooting and driving the net, still losing track of who to cover on a two-on-two rush, still totally unaware of opposition players camped out at their back door and still trying the one-on-three rush.
Nothing much is changing. So, somehow, the second-highest scoring team in the NHL is in real danger with 19 games to go.
The question is shifting from ‘when will a team that knows how to play tough playoff hockey start doing it?’ to ‘do they still have it in them anymore?’
“Every night it’s a different story, whether it’s puck management or (not) getting a block, or losing assignments,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
“A couple of years ago, when we had a 16-game winning streak, the defence was rock solid. This year, this has been a downfall for us. How many games have we given up three, four or more goals? You just can’t win doing that.
“We’ve tried to come up with solutions, we’ve tried to adjust to things. Hopefully, this is something new that they’re still adapting to.”
As Hyman said Friday, you don’t judge the team off of this one game. The trades just happened and it was a whirlwind week for everyone. Maybe they’ll settle in and post a win over Vegas, which has its own set of problems this season, to calm the masses.
“You win that game and you’re right in it,” said Hyman. “I think we’ve got to try and not ride the roller coaster and believe in the processes and believe in the group we have and continue to press forward.”
Let’s hope, because if we don’t see something soon from this group, we likely never will.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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