3 Takeaways as Oilers suffer another loss to the Canucks

A breakdown of three talking points from Monday night’s game in Vancouver, as the Edmonton Oilers once again lose to the Canucks.

Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous now. The Edmonton Oilers managed to lose once again on Monday night, to fall to 2-8-1 on the season.

Returning to the scene of their 8-1 humiliation on opening night, the Oilers had the opportunity to conquer their demons in an attempt to get the season on track. Instead, they once more lost to the Canucks in Vancouver, this time ‘only’ 6-2.

This is now the fifth time in just 11 games, that the Oilers have allowed five or more goals. Unsurprisingly as a consequence, they are ranked second-worst in the NHL as of Tuesday morning, allowing an average of 4.27 goals per game.

Equally unsurprising, this is the worst start to a season for the Oilers in the Connor McDavid era. If you’re a glutton for punishment, here are three takeaways from the 6-2 loss at Rogers Arena:

1) First period sums up Oilers season so far

We’ve already pointed to 10 numbers, which helped tell the story of the first 10 games of the 2023-24 campaign. Now, we can point towards a period which helps summarise the season thus far.

More specifically, the first period on Monday night. For 11 minutes, the Oilers performed up to their talent level and were outplaying a surprisingly good Canucks team.

The Oilers were absolutely dominating the hosts, as evidenced by a 19-2 advantage in shots on goal. However, one of the prevailing narratives of this young season was also on display, i.e. their inability to take full advantage of their opportunities.

For all the chances the Oilers were creating, they only had a 1-0 lead. Their solitary goal came courtesy of Mattias Ekholm at the 6:42 mark, with the helpers going to Sam Gagner and a revitalised Evander Kane.

With the way this season has gone so far, you almost knew this lack of clinical finishing was going to come back and bite the Oilers on the ass. However, even by their standards, the self-capitulation was spectacular.

The Canucks tied the game at the 11:30 point of the first period, thanks to Quinn Hughes’ scrappy and somewhat fortunate fifth goal of the season. However, it was going to get a lot worse for the Oilers.

In the span of just 3:22, the visitors went from leading 1-0 to trailing 3-1. Pius Suter gave the Canucks a lead they wouldn’t surrender for the remainder of the game, before Oilers-killer Brock Boeser scored the third goal.

And just like that, the Oilers were behind 3-1 after 20 minutes, despite having a 20-8 advantage in shots on goal. It is extremely telling that this team is so mentally fragile, that they essentially fell apart as soon as the Canucks tied the game at 1-1.