Oilers open 2026-27 season with a reality check

The Edmonton Oilers lost their season opener for the fourth consecutive season Tuesday night. They lost 8-1 in Vancouver in October 2023, and were pumped 6-0 at home to Winnipeg in 2024, blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in a home shootout to Calgary last year, and lost 6-5 in OT to Vancouver last night. They’ve allowed 23 goals (shootout goal excluded) in four games, and they’ve had three different head coaches for those games.

Coaching can make an impact, but ultimately the players decide the outcome of games. No coach has a system that encourages giving up odd-man rushes or turnovers at the offensive blue line regularly. The Oilers gave up too many odd-man opportunities last night, and they didn’t receive enough timely saves from their goaltender. That is a recipe for losing.

It is only one game, and while Mike Babcock outlined that the team wasn’t good enough in his post-game presser, this outcome might be the best thing for him. The leaders said all along they want to be coached, and now Babcock has ample video to show they need to play better. It isn’t about last year. It isn’t about another coach. It is about this group and their need to be much better defensively at even strength and on the penalty kill.

Babcock outlined the areas they need to improve.

“We didn’t do things right, we turned the puck over, we stayed out too long on the ice and made poor decisions. If we want to work and do things right, we will have a lot of success, but if we want to play like that, we will be chasing the game,” he said.

Noticing Babcock mention shift length stood out to me. His top two lines had the longest shifts, and clearly that was directed at them.

“Obviously, that was pretty clear, so we might as well move on. Our part is to play way better. That was ridiculous,” said Babcock when asked if they need better goaltending.

Tristan Jarry did not have a great night. The third Vancouver goal was bad. However, the Canucks also scored on a 2-on-1 and three in close breakaways. Yes, the goalie needs to make a save, but the Oilers’ willingness to give up those chances was ridiculous, to quote Babcock.

Babcock was asked about the fact that the Oilers have struggled to be a consistently good defensive team.

“Changing the way this team plays and the structure they need will be more difficult than you thought?” asked Derek Van Diest.

“I don’t think so. I never thought for one second it would be easy. Tonight was an indication that we have serious work to do. We will have to look at it tomorrow, show the players and clear it up. Playing like that, we started fine but then got away from what we are supposed to do is unacceptable. We have to set a better standard for ourselves.

Babcock biggest challenge isn’t going to be instilling the standard, as we’ve seen this team play well for long stretches, but eventually they slack in those areas. That is the challenge he faces. Can he get them to maintain a standard for more than one year?

Penalty kill struggles… again…

The Oilers PK was 50 per cent, and the power play gave up a shorthanded goal. The Oilers don’t take a lot of penalties, but if you only take two and give up one goal, you won’t have much success.

“The penalty kill, I really liked the second one that set us up for a chance to win, but the first one we just stood there and didn’t pressure at all, and they made a nice high tip play, but we had three guys covering one.”

The tip goal had Ekholm, Murphy, Formenton and McDavid on the ice. That is their top PK unit, for now, until Jason Dickinson returns. The entire premise of the PK is too pressure, and if they don’t, they will continue to get exposed.

Waste of a great performance

Evan Bouchard scored his second career hat-trick and added two assists, but it wasn’t enough. It was brutal to waste a record-breaking night, most points by a D-man in a season opener, by Bouchard.

“You can’t have a guy with five points and lose the hockey game. It just doesn’t make any sense. We have to do things right as a group, and tonight, even though we thought we were trending in the right direction, that is the great thing about the National Hockey League, if you don’t do it right you feel bad when you leave the rink.”

Babcock’s answers outline clearly how he feels. It is only one game in an 84-game season, but considering how this team played last year, Babcock will want to remove the bad habits quickly.

Quick notes…

— Babcock wants to play his depth guys more, but after allowing three goals in the first 5:15 of the third, he was forced to play his top guys more in hopes of mounting a comeback. It worked as Vasily Podkolzin tied the game with 41 seconds remaining, but Babcock admitted he didn’t play his fourth line enough.

This isn’t a surprise to me. The main reason Kris Knoblauch played McDavid 22:59/game last year, was because they were chasing games too often. McDavid played 22:51, while Bouchard played 25:41. Edmonton had six players log over 20 minutes. It is very difficult to play your depth guys when you are chasing the game.

— I thought Devon Levi was going to start Thursday’s game regardless of the outcome in the season opener, but after Jarry’s struggles, it is easy to see why Levi will start. I suspect he won’t face as many breakaways and odd-man rush chances. He just needs to avoid the weak goal that Jarry let in (third Van goal).

Jarry doesn’t need to be elite; he just needs to be reliable. I wonder if Babcock will go back to him soon, or if Levi plays well, does Jarry sit on this one for a long time. Oilers need a good start, and if Levi plays well tomorrow, he’d start for me on Saturday against Seattle. No question.

— Edmonton had stretches where they played well. They started strong, and Kevin Lankinen made many outstanding saves in the first period. He robbed Leon Draisaitl twice and stoned Colton Dach and Kasperi Kapanen. He kept them in it until the Oilers started leaking chances.

— Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn’t attend the game. He wasn’t even announced during the player announcement. I did see him at the morning skate walking around the room, with no noticeable limp, but it was odd not seeing him part of the player introduction.

.