The Edmonton Oilers went into their game Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres with a great opportunity to keep their momentum rolling.
On Saturday, the Oilers had a gutsy 4-3 overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes and it seemed like a great game to use as a jumping off point to turn the tide of their 2025-26 season.
Unfortunately, that did not transpire and instead, the Oilers were dominated in almost every metric used to measure performance. Look no further than the actual score sheet as the Sabres won 5-1. It was not close and aside from most of the first period, it never really was.
According to Moneypuck.com, the Oilers were destroyed by expected goals with the Sabres generating 3.46 at 5-on-5 compared to the Oilers 1.79.
Oilers address the media
After a blowout loss, the last thing you want is to speak to the media but at the same time, you owe the fans an explanation. There seemed to be a narrative from everybody, that the Oilers began the game playing well but then let the game get away from them.
Although this is not wrong, it is interesting that multiple people said that. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said "After their [Sabres] powerplay goal I thought we let up a little bit with confidence or emotion, we just didn't have the same jump as we had starting the game."
To be frank, it is his job to stop that from happening and it has been a growing trend in the Oilers' game. They either let the game get away to begin or to end and are forced to attempt to claw their way back. This has resulted in many overtime games this season.
Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak gave his take on the Oilers game saying "Not executing, ran into a pretty good goalie, just not really playing to the level we want to get to" adding on "Just not enough, have to put in a full 60 minute effort".
Winger Vasily Podkolzin gave the most emotional take on the Oilers game. "We better figure it out, how to win the games, as soon as possible because we're not happy with what's going on right now."
The Oilers need to be better
Simply put, the Oilers just need to be better. They're not getting consistent goals support, their goaltending, for all the flack it gets was not the difference against the Sabres.
They were a team that was simply outplayed by a basement dwelling team that is struggling mightily this year both on the ice and internally. There are constant trade rumours and speculation swarming the team and it is something that is not going away. It has been over a decade of this type of turmoil in Buffalo.
Like Podkolzin said, the team needs figure out how to win games and fast before the season gets away from them.