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Matchday 4: Philadelphia in Edmonton

It's already obvious that the Edmonton Oilers are off to a terrible start to the 2024-25 season. Three (home) games, three regular defeats, each with a difference of at least three goals. In these three games, only three goals were scored compared to fifteen goals conceded.

It's not a pretty picture for Oilers fans. This morning the team counts:

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• With 0 table points, he is in last place in the league.
• Tied for last place (with Carolina, who only played 1 game) at 1.00 goals scored per game
• With 5.00 points, he is second to last in goals allowed per game
• Last in the league in shooting percentage at 3.2%
• Second to last in the league in save percentage at .783
• Last in the league in PDO at .815

A year ago, the Oilers finished in the top half of the league in all of these key stats — even after a terrible start — but this season they have faltered at the starting line.

It's not just the regular season either. All aspects of the competition were taken into account along the way. Keep in mind that players representing the organization played 14 games between September 14th and October 14th. The results were consistently brutal:

This is not good.

The games mean different things at different times. The Penticton tournament is all about depth of prospect; the first half of the preseason (4 games in 4 days, Connor McDavid 1 GP) on technical depth; the second half of the preseason (one game every other day, McDavid 4 GP) about preparation for the season. Then of course the games actually start to count, assuming you can even interpret 0, 0, 0 table points as “counting”.

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This brings us to the next phase, which is affectionately known here as “The Nuclear Option”:

Today's lineup

So far, coach Kris Knoblauch has followed the formula of starting McDavid and Leon Draisaitl He centers their individual lines, although he makes it his mission to combine them into a stacked line from the third period onwards. That apparently changes tonight as the two line up together for their morning skate.

The nuclear option is theoretically the last choice, but there's a pretty strong argument that the Oilers are already there. It's not like Plan A worked, is it? Plans B and C didn’t go so well either.

So far this season, McDavid and Draisaitl have played 13 minutes together, with the Oilers firing 23 shots at the opposing net during that time, while their opposition only managed four shot attempts to concede. Somehow the Oil lost those minutes, 0 to 1. Seems hard to believe, but much of what we've seen so far is true. It's hard to imagine that the goals-to-shots ratio doesn't need a massive correction.

Zach Hyman I certainly hope so. When he scored 70 goals (including playoffs) a year ago, he has never lit the lamp or even gotten on the scoresheet, with ugly boxcars of 0-0-0, -4 to this early point. A stint with the two leading scorers of the last eight seasons could be a good way to get him going. Might also be the right way them Go: Draisaitl is just 1-0-1, -4 at this early stage; McDavid, 0-2-2, -5.

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The fallout looks Jeff Skinnerby far the best Oiler on Sunday, fell back to the third row Adam Henrique And Connor Brown.

No surprise Ryan Nugent Hopkins Switch to 2C like he always did when the nuclear option is activated. He will have new linemates Vasily Podkolzin And Viktor Arvidsson. Will there be chemistry between them? I guess we'll find out tonight.

Further changes will be implemented in the backend, where Darnell Nurse will have its third partner in four games. The time has come this evening Troy StecherNow it's the turn to close the gaping hole in the second pairing after that Ty Emberson And Travis Dermott it was their turn. Dermott is completely missing tonight, while Emberson can play alongside him on the third pairing Brett Kulak.

Now Edmonton's first pair in the world Mattias Ekholm And Evan Bouchard pushed the game north, with the Oilers hitting 67% of their shots at 5-on-5 in their 55 minutes together, but they too were outscored 2-1. Bouchard, who scored 82 points last season and another 32 points in the playoffs, has yet to find the scoresheet. He has struggled to get his shots through, with only four on target so far compared to a shocking 19 that have been blocked.

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No wonder garlic has returned Stu Skinner in the pipes. The Oilers' No. 1 man had a decent performance in net against Calgary on Sunday, with both he and his backup playing Calvin Pickard Both had major problems in their respective first starts.

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