Playing the second of a back-to-back, the Oilers went 0-for-1 on the power play while taking no penalties, but the Red Wings were able to do all their damage at even strength by forcing Edmonton’s hand to deliver them to their third straight loss. After going 2-for-4 on the power play in their season opener against the Flames, the Oilers have struggled to score with the man advantage by going 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) in their previous five contests.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” said defenceman Brett Kulak, who recorded two assists to reach 99 career helpers in the defeat.
“I thought we started really well like we did the last few games, and they’re a good team. They’re skating hard, and they’ve got some momentum rolling over there. I think it was just a case where they kind of stuck with their plan longer than we did. We started forcing plays, turning more pucks over, and it made the night easier on them.”
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch and his players are hoping to see them get back to generating offence the way they have shown in recent years, and that will come from an extra level of connectedness, execution and simplicity that’s currently lacking in their game at this early stage of the 2025-26 NHL season.
“I think a lot of it is just the way they feel, having the confidence and executing passes and moving it up together nicely,” Knoblauch said.
“A lot of missed passes, execution not being there, and then it just ends up being a safe play; getting in on the forecheck rather than having a bunch of series of good passes to get in the zone. You saw that several times, and I think when guys are feeling more confident and just better about their game, then we’ll execute those and build a little more momentum.”
