Third loss for Oilers: Referees make Draisaitl’s next nightmare start perfect

Third loss for Oilers
Referees make Draisaitl’s next nightmare start perfect

In Edmonton they are used to heartache, at least at the start of the season: Like last year, Leon Draisaitl’s team is having a negative series. The superstars aren’t getting going yet, the defense is allowing too much. Everything has to get better.

The Edmonton Oilers around Leon Draisaitl also lost the third NHL game of the new season. The title candidate took the lead for the first time against the Calgary Flames, but still lost 4-1 to the Flames and is still waiting for the first point. According to the numbers, the Oilers are the weakest team in the league.

Jeff Skinner made it 1-0 in the second minute and had the fans in Edmonton cheering. Shortly before the end of the first third, the Oilers supposedly upped the ante – but the cheers died down within seconds: the Flames took a challenge – and the referees conceded the goal was completely incomprehensible because of an alleged obstruction of the goalkeeper.

“Everyone can be better”

After that, the Oilers didn’t seem to have the same focus offensively. “I think we played a good first half of the game and then obviously we had some goals denied, we got distracted and we just made mistakes,” Oilers center Zach Hyman said. “I think everyone stopped caring about their own job and that’s obviously the result you get.”

The Oilers have already conceded 15 goals in three games and have only scored three goals of their own despite the offensive around superstars Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. It was the third win in the third game for the Flames. McDavid was satisfied after the game: “I’m sure there are many ways to explain it, but in the end it wasn’t good enough,” said the striker, who has been the league’s top scorer five times. “I’ve said here many times that everyone can be better, and everyone will be better.”

The Oilers also got off to a miserable start last season. They lost ten of the first twelve games – but in the end the team around Draisaitl and McDavid still made it to the playoffs and narrowly missed out on the championship title. Nobody wants to back away from the big goals after another bitter start: “We’re not quitters here. We’ve never been that before,” assured McDavid. “Three defeats in a row isn’t ideal, but it’s nothing we can’t work on.”

Philipp Grubauer also left the ice with a defeat. With the Seattle Kraken he lost 0-2 to the strong Dallas Stars. The Texans have won all games so far this season.

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