October Curse continues for Oilers

From bad to worse.

Any hope the Edmonton Oilers had in salvaging their five-game eastern road trip blew up in their face Sunday afternoon, losing 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wings. While the team secured an ugly 2-0 shutout victory over the New York Rangers to kick things off, they put up a stinker against the New York Islanders on Thursday, and couldn’t muster much against the New Jersey Devils until late in Saturday’s game.

The team talked about simplifying their game and quickly forgetting the loss to the Devils, but neither of those things seemed to happen in Detroit.

All of this, mind you, after the Oilers played Stanley Cup-calibre hockey to start the season against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. So what gives?

“I think a lot of it got away from the strength of our game,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “Just the execution of our puck play, passes, and whether that’s giving up a scoring chance immediately from a bad pass or just having to spend more time in the defensive zone.”

Through six games, the Oilers have posted a 2-3-1 record — incrementally better than the 2-4 they were through six to start the 2024-25 season, and the 1-4-1 start to 2023-24. There’s no denying the team has played a lot of hockey in recent years, but one has to wonder if there’s some kind of October Curse on this team.

“We’ve played an awful lot of hockey the last three years, four years, and not a lot of break, not a lot of rest time,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “And there comes a time where, you know, maybe it catches up to you a little bit, but there’s another team that went through the same thing.

“We got to find a way to push through it, just take a look in the mirror and be better.”

While the team has gone 1-3 through the first four games of the trip, they have a chance to add another win on Tuesday night when they pay visit to the Ottawa Senators.

“Just execution,” said Knoblauch. “Just making the little simple plays and accumulating that, then things start going well.

“But if you’re trying to make the home run pass the big one every time, then you probably have a lot of failure, and it breaks down your game, and you don’t have much rhythm or flow to your game.”

Edmonton’s return home Thursday to face the Montreal Canadiens couldn’t come soon enough. A few nights rest in their own bed could do them good, but they’ll swing west soon after to visit the Seattle Kraken next Saturday night, and the Vancouver Canucks Sunday night.

The Oilers need to find a way to dig up.