Oilers Embarrassed by Penguins, and McDavid Isn’t Letting Himself Off the Hook
Connor McDavid doesn’t often point the finger at himself. He’s usually too focused on the next shift, the next game, the next opportunity to lead by example.
But after the Edmonton Oilers were thoroughly dismantled in a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins-and just one night after a flat 2-1 defeat to the New Jersey Devils-the captain didn’t dodge the spotlight. He stepped into it.
“The sense of urgency in our group has to go up. It starts with me. The last two games haven’t been my best,” McDavid admitted.
That kind of accountability from the best player in the world doesn’t come lightly. And it speaks volumes about where the Oilers are right now-stuck in a rut, and looking for answers.
Let’s call it what it was: the loss to the Penguins was a mess. Edmonton didn’t just lose; they got steamrolled.
The Penguins put up three goals in just 37 seconds, setting a new franchise low for the Oilers and breaking a record that had stood since 1982. That’s not the kind of history any team wants to make.
From puck drop to final horn, the Oilers looked out of sync. They were slow to react, sloppy with the puck, and overwhelmed defensively.
Pittsburgh didn’t do anything fancy-they just capitalized on mistake after mistake. And Edmonton gave them plenty.
McDavid didn’t sugarcoat it.
“Our puck play has been bad. Really, really bad. Not really connecting on passes, sloppy, bouncing-whatever it is-and it looks slow and clunky.”
He’s not wrong. Edmonton couldn’t string together clean passes, especially coming out of their own zone.
Turnovers turned into odd-man rushes. And when the Penguins got those chances, they buried them.
The Oilers made it far too easy.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch echoed the frustration.
“The chances we were giving up were pretty much inexcusable,” he said.
It was a tough night for everyone wearing orange and blue, but especially for a goaltending group that never had a chance. Calvin Pickard got the start, but it wouldn’t have mattered who was in net-when defensive breakdowns are that frequent and that glaring, goalies are left out to dry.
And then there was Sidney Crosby, who looked every bit the Hall of Famer he is. He didn’t need to dominate the puck to control the game.
He just read the play, found the soft spots, and let the chaos unfold in front of him. The Oilers gave him too much time, too much space-and he made them pay.
Still, amid the wreckage, there was one glimmer of hope: Matt Savoie. The rookie forward has now scored in back-to-back games, and his line with Isaac Howard and Jack Roslovic was one of the few bright spots for Edmonton. Savoie’s showing more confidence with each shift-his skill and vision are starting to translate at the NHL level, and that’s something the Oilers can build on.
Leon Draisaitl returned to the lineup, but even his presence couldn’t lift the team out of its funk. The execution just wasn’t there.
The puck movement was “real, real bad,” as McDavid put it, and that’s being generous. The Oilers didn’t just lose-they beat themselves.
Yes, injuries are a factor. Kasperi Kapanen is still out, and the lineup is being held together with what feels like duct tape and determination. But even with a depleted roster, the effort and structure have to be better than this.
McDavid stepping up and taking responsibility is a big deal. He’s the tone-setter.
When he says the urgency isn’t high enough and that it starts with him, that message carries weight. But it can’t stop with him.
The rest of the team needs to respond.
The defense needs to clean up the lapses. The forwards need to support the puck better.
The goaltending needs support, not a firing squad in front of them. Everyone has to elevate their game.
The Oilers are still sitting second in the Pacific, but performances like this won’t keep them there for long. Teams below them are hungry, and if Edmonton keeps playing like they did in Pittsburgh, they’ll get passed-and fast.
Savoie’s emergence is a silver lining. Crosby’s brilliance was expected.
But the Oilers’ collective performance? That was unacceptable.
McDavid knows it. Knoblauch knows it.
And deep down, every guy in that locker room knows it too.
Now it’s on them to fix it.