3 Takeaways From Oilers’ 4-2 Loss to Mammoth

Oilers netminder Devon Levi stopped 20 of the 23 shots he faced, while Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves.

Edmonton never led held the lead on Thursday, trailing by scores of 1-0 after the first period and 3-1 after forty minutes.

This was the first of back-to-back meetings between the Oilers and Mammoth, who will face off again in Salt Lake City on Saturday (Oct. 17).

With the loss, Edmonton’s record falls to 5-1-1. The Oilers remain second place in the Pacific Division standings with 11 points.

Special Teams Make the Difference

Edmonton was 0-for-2 on the power-play, while Utah went 2-for-3 with the man advantage. That plus-two differential in favour of the Mammoth proved to be the difference in the final score.

But to take it a step further, Edmonton actually outscored the Mammoth 2-1 at 5-on-5, because Utah’s fourth goal was scored into empty net, by Keller at 19:32 of the third period, with Levi pulled for the extra attacker.

Short-handed play is one of the few negatives for the Oilers during their hot start this season. Edmonton is now just 15/22 on the penalty-kill for a rate of 68.2%, which is the fourth worst in the NHL.  The Oilers were 4/4 killing penalties against the impotent Los Angeles Kings in a 4-1 victory on Tuesday (Oct. 13), but excluding that game, Edmonton has a penalty kill percentage of just 61.1% this season.

It’s too early to be concerned, although this issue isn’t necessarily new for the Oilers, who had one of the NHL’s lowest penalty-kill percentages over the second half of last season. If he didn’t know it already, new Oilers coach Mike Babcock has his work cut out for him as he looks to improve his team’s performance while playing short-handed.

Levi Locks In

Thursday saw another solid performance from Levi between the pipes again on Thursday. The 24-year-old netminder had little chance on any of the three goals he gave up and made a couple of nice saves to keep the score close, giving the Oilers a chance to rally.

Levi has now started five of Edmonton’s last six games, and with the exception of allowing seven goals on 22 shots against the Vancouver Canucks in his Oilers debut on Oct. 1, he’s given Edmonton the goaltending it needs to win. In his four outings since, Levi has a goals-against average of 1.77 and save percentage of .939%.

With each game, it seems more and more like Levi is emerging as Edmonton’s No. 1 netminder. His partner in the crease, Tristan Jarry, has started just once since giving up six goals to the Canucks when the Oilers lost their season-opener in overtime on Sept. 29.

With that said, Jarry played strongly in a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 10, and he’ll get another chance to show what he can do on Saturday, as Babcock indicated during Thursday’s post-game media availability that Jarry will start in Salt Lake City.

A Night of Firsts

There were a few firsts at Rogers Place on Thursday night, none of which were positive for the home team.

This wasn’t just Edmonton’s first regulation loss of 2026-27, it was also the first time the Oilers lost in regulation to Utah since the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City in 2024.

Going into Thursday’s game, the Oilers were 5-0-1 against Utah, including a perfect 3-0-0 at home. Edmonton had outscored Utah by nearly double, 31-16, over those six games.

Going back to its time in Arizona, this franchise struggled for several years, but Utah isn’t a pushover anymore. After making the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, the Mammoth are off to a 6-2-0 start and currently sit atop the Central Division standings with 12 points. The Oilers will look for a better result when they face Utah again on Saturday.