The Carolina Hurricanes walked into whatever passes for a hostile environment in Edmonton these days and put six past the Edmonton Oilers with very little to answer for. The Oilers, on the other hand, have now surrendered 56 goals over their last 12 games, and it is safe to say their defence has fallen apart.
Carolina is the kind of team Edmonton would face in a playoff series right now. They're structured, disciplined, and relentless on the forecheck. If the Oilers do scratch their way into the postseason, and that is an if right now, they'll see this type of team in round one. It'll be Colorado, but as we just saw, they're nowhere near ready.
Not long ago, Edmonton was sitting atop the Pacific Division and looked like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender — again. They were playing sound defensive hockey, winning close games, and looking every bit like a team that had learned from consecutive trips to the Cup Finals.
Now they've just watched Anaheim take first in the division. They've fallen to third in the Pacific, and the teams below them, such as the San Jose Sharks, don't look that bad anymore.
"Listen, nobody wants to be scored against. We're not going out there and trying to let in five every night," began Zach Hyman. "There's an effort there to be better, and it's just a matter of going out there and doing it, and doing your job, and trusting that other guys are going to do their job, right?
There's no magic answer (to our lapse in defence). Otherwise, we wouldn't be (giving up) five goals a game. Everything collapses. Yeah, I can't give you the answer, because if I could, we would be doing it."
When one of your top forwards and most respected players openly admits the team has no answer to its own defensive problems, it tells you that this problem is not going away.
Fans in Edmonton gave this team some room to breathe. There was patience, a belief that the Oilers would find their game again the way they did last spring when they came back from a 3-0 series deficit against the LA Kings. But that patience has a shelf life, and it's just about expired as the remaining regular season schedule looms ahead.
Three straight road games against Vegas, Colorado, and Dallas starting Sunday. Vegas has been one of the better defensive teams all season. Fans have already seen how Colorado handles the Oilers. Dallas doesn't lose a lot of games at home. Then there are still dates remaining against Tampa and Anaheim.
The Oilers' offence can carry them through some of those nights. But you can't give teams three, four, or five goals and expect to come back every single time.
"I mean, you're not going to score the empty net every time," explained Hyman. "If you're down by one in the game, more often than not, you're losing, right? I think those comebacks are fun, but you don't want to be in that position."
The Oilers have made a habit of digging out of holes this year, but the math doesn't hold up over 82 games. And with roughly 20 left on the schedule, they no longer have the luxury of treating each loss as something they can make up later.
"We need to put together wins. We only have 20 games left, and we're on the brink of not making the playoffs," deadpanned Kris Knoblauch. "So, yeah, we can't just wait to find our game in the playoffs, because we need to ultimately get there. So we need to find another gear."
It's time someone said it: this team might not make the playoffs.
If the Oilers, a team with two consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances, miss the postseason entirely, it would be quite the fall from grace.
Connor McDavid bet on this group. He signed an extension and committed to seeing this through in Edmonton. Going from back-to-back Cup Finals to watching the first round on television would be a gut punch for everyone involved, especially.
And if they do sneak in? Right now, the path could lead to a Wild Card spot and a first-round matchup against Colorado, a team built to win and playing like it. The road does not get easier from here.
There are 20 games left. Maybe the defensive structure tightens, the goaltending stabilizes, and the Oilers go on the kind of run that makes this whole stretch feel like a distant memory by May. It's happened before.
But the window to make that happen is closing fast, and Friday night in Edmonton was confirmation of something a lot of people have quietly known for a while now.
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