Oilers Best Start In Three Years: "Just Not Good Enough"

The Edmonton Oilers found their best start to a season in three years after a 6-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens. That should feel like an accomplishment. Instead, the locker room mood reflected a team that knows it got away with one and understands that winning ugly only works for so long.

This is the problem with the Oilers right now. They're collecting points without playing hockey, that's sustainable over 82 games and into the playoffs. Montreal is the youngest team in the NHL. The Oilers should dominate that matchup from start to finish. Instead, they needed late power play goals and individual heroics to escape with two points. That's not a recipe for success—it's a warning sign being masked by favourable results.

"We found a way to get ourselves a lead in the second, and then all of a sudden, we just stopped playing for a bit. And that's a high-power team that you give them looks and let them feel good, they're going to capitalize. And, it just wasn't good enough," began Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. "We took advantage. We got some power plays at the end that we scored on, and then a really big one there by Pods, good battle.

"I thought we started push at the end, but I would say for most of the game, just not our standard."

The standard matters more than the standings in October. Stanley Cups aren't won by scraping by inferior opponents. They're built on consistent execution, defensive structure, and the discipline to play the right way regardless of the score or opponent. The Oilers aren't showing that right now, and everyone in that locker room knows it.

"Maybe the last 10 minutes of the game, it looked like we were a team that played well, but the first 50 it was disorganized. It was a lack of work. It didn't look very good, and we've got a lot of things to clean up," added head coach Kris Knoblauch. "So, yeah, we're very happy with the two points. Power Play came up huge, and now we can only get better right now."

The schedule isn't doing them any favours either. There's no time for extended practice sessions to drill systems and rebuild habits. The games keep coming, the grind gets harder, and a 4-3-1 start to the season starts to look like a gift when the Oilers continue to underperform beyond expectations.

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"Well, I think our first couple games, I thought we actually did (find our game), and then we got away from it, maybe just getting on the road, trying to be a little too cute, and then things don't go your way, then you start to grip the stick a little bit too much," Nugent-Hopkins explained. "But I mean, definitely we gotta, we gotta find it here.

"Obviously we play so much hockey coming up, so there's no time to think about it, and there's not gonna be a whole lot of practices to work on. It's gonna be a mentality, and we need to address it right away."

The talent in that room is undeniable. McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Bouchard—this is a roster capable of winning a Stanley Cup. But talent alone doesn't win championships. The 2023-24 Florida Panthers didn't have the most talented roster. They had the most committed roster. They played structured, disciplined hockey and made opponents earn everything. The Oilers aren't doing that right now.

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"But yeah, I thought tonight again, just kind of lackluster to start and found a way to get it done. But we know there's a lot more in this room."

That's the frustrating reality. The Oilers know they're better than this. They know they're capable of dominating games when they commit to playing the right way. Instead, they're winning despite themselves, collecting points while the underlying process deteriorates. That disconnect won't last forever.

The best start in three years should be cause for celebration, but nobody seems particularly excited about it. That tells you everything about where this team's head is at. They've been down this road before—good results masking bad habits, then hitting a wall when the competition intensifies and there's no margin for error left.

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The power play is excellent. Individual talent keeps showing up in crucial moments. Those things matter, but they're not foundations for sustained success. Foundations are built on defensive structure, consistent effort, and the discipline to execute your game plan regardless of circumstances. The Oilers aren't showing those qualities right now, and the fact that they're winning anyway might be the worst thing that could happen.

Winning while playing poorly creates complacency. It reinforces the idea that talent alone is enough. It delays the necessary corrections until the problems become too big to fix. The Oilers need to address this now, while they're still collecting points, before the schedule and competition expose what everyone in that locker room already knows.

Two points against Montreal. The best start in three years. And a team that understands none of it matters if the process doesn't improve. That's where the Edmonton Oilers are right now—winning despite themselves and hoping the wake-up call comes before it's too late.

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