The Edmonton Oilers recent two-game skid has revealed a pattern head coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t ignoring. Games turning on single moments with special teams faltering at the wrong time and a sense that the team’s rhythm has slowed to a crawl.
Coming off a 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, just a night after falling 4-2 to the New York Islanders, the coach didn’t point fingers but his words carried a clear undercurrent of impatience. “Turning point in two games now,” Knoblauch said. “We had a chance on the power play to really make a difference… and then give up a short-handed goal.”
Against the Islanders, a shorthanded goal had flipped momentum just before the third period. Against the Devils, it happened again putting Edmonton in a 3-1 hole they couldn’t escape.
Kris Knoblauch addressed Oilers goaltending on the road trip
What’s notable is that goaltending long the lightning rod for Oilers criticism, isn’t the main culprit right now. Stuart Skinner turned in a 30-save shutout at Madison Square Garden earlier in the week, but his workload has since shifted from spectacular to survival mode.
He allowed four goals on 25 shots against the Islanders (.840 save percentage). Backup netminder Calvin Pickard allowed five on roughly 30 against the Devils. It’s not elite, but it’s been really holding up this season considering the defensive lapses in front of them.
Knoblauch, for his part, praised that steadiness. “Throughout this trip, we’ve got really good goaltending,” he said, adding that those efforts “should have given us some wins.” It’s an implicit acknowledgement that Edmonton’s problems lie further up the ice in transition pace and offensive chemistry that’s dried up since the early games of the season.
Knoblauch not happy with Oilers 'stagnant’ pace
Knoblauch’s tone shifted from analysis to challenge as the conversation turned to the team’s overall pace. “We haven’t been better,” he admitted. “The first two games at home, we were great… but things are just a little stale, a little stagnant. We had to just speed our game up.”
The Oilers’ five-on-five scoring has sputtered with just seven goals in their last three games and several of those coming late in losing efforts. Connor McDavid had also noted that the group has felt “disconnected” on both the power play and at even strength and Knoblauch didn’t disagree.
“It just felt like it was disconnected, a little bit slower,” he said suggesting that pressing too hard to fix it may be making things worse.
Still, the head coach struck a note of confidence about the quick turnaround ahead. “This team has always been able to put things behind themselves,” he said of Sunday’s game in Detroit. “They’ve been through a lot of high-pressure games.”
The Oilers early-season saw some elite offensive potential offset by inconsistency and fine margins. Goaltending has been solid but unsupported while a sputtering power play has reversed from automatic to vulnerable.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Knoblauch’s read of the group still sounds rooted in belief rather than frustration. But after two straight losses marked by the same mistakes, Edmonton’s next outing in Detroit may reveal whether that faith still has results to stand on.