Edmonton Oilers: Ethan Bear breaks down tough loss to Calgary Flames

Unfortunately for the Edmonton Oilers, they were unable to keep up their momentum earlier in the week against the Calgary Flames. Losing 3-1 was a feeling that has been a bit familiar so far this season with the Oilers. Just when things are going their way, they get sent back down to reality by a team that’s simply outplaying them in every way, shape, and form.

At the end of the day, the Flames simply wanted it more. They showed it early and often against the Oilers and delivered results when it mattered most. In the grand scheme of things, this could bode problematic for the Oilers as once they enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs, being outplayed like this can hurt morale and confidence big time.

Defenseman Ethan Bear recently chimed in his thoughts on what exactly went wrong in their loss at home against the Flames. To be honest, he hit the nail right on the head. In an article written by Cam Lewis of Oilers Nation, Bear said:

“They’re a desperate team over there, and we played a game yesterday with travel. You could tell they had a little more jump than us,” Bear said. “These are playoff style games. When you’re playing a team that’s fighting for their lives, we have to match that intensity.”

While we shouldn’t say it’s the end of the world for the Oilers or anything, this makes a lot of sense. Fatigue sometimes can get the best of any team due to such extensive traveling as the Oilers undoubtedly seemed off on Thursday. It’s just one game but the hockey world could easily have seen that the Flames simply wanted it more.

They played more efficiently and aggressively all game long loosening up one bit The Flames were clearly the better team and hopefully, this was a good wake-up call for the Oilers. We can definitely understand fatigue from travel and all but these are the kinds of sleeper games to be very careful of.

Due to past and all, it’s been common for the Oilers to spiral out of control once consecutive losses get to them and that’s dangerous going into the postseason. Hopefully, with a day off on Friday, they get back to their winning ways to start the new month of May fresh and end it with a big push towards earning that first place spot in the North Division. As always, let’s continue to take things one game at a time which has been the mantra so far this season.