The Oilers posed an interesting existential question after one period of play in Edmonton on Tuesday night: Is it possible to have a Stanley Cup hangover without actually winning the Stanley Cup?
Edmonton dropped its first three games of this NHL season convincingly, scoring three total goals and allowing 15. Not what you want from a presumed Cup contender.
Against Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Oilers put together a period that almost seemed designed to make their fans tear garments in frustration, falling behind 2-0 after two goals from Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov. The first required two reviews, one to determine that Michkov successfully stuffed the puck past Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner at the near post, the second to confirm Michkov didn't interfere with Skinner while doing so. The second goal was a no-doubter, but beat Skinner again at the near post from a tight angle and didn't look good for a goalie struggling early on.
The Oilers then managed to put a puck in the Philadelphia net, only for it to be disallowed because Zach Hyman briefly made contact with Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson in the crease. At this point in the young season, the Oilers had scored three goals and had four disallowed. In those opening 20 minutes, they saw two goalie-interference goals go against them and took four penalties, two of which led to power-play goals, leaving their penalty kill at a grim 41% on the season. These are hair-pulling levels of angst.
Mercifully, the game turned. The Oilers scored twice in the second period to level it. While they fell behind again, a late third-period goal from Evan Bouchard sent the game to overtime, where Leon Draisaitl quickly scored to finally put Edmonton in the win column.
The record will show that a pair of Oilers, Troy Stecher and Corey Perry, were involved in a third-period mini-brawl that sparked the Edmonton crowd, meaning the team had shown some fight, both literally and figuratively, when it needed it the most.
And so, the Oilers will be fine. Probably. Most likely. The only reason for hesitancy here - and it's the same reason why the fourth game of the season felt like it had unusually high stakes - is because the Oilers have been here before. Quite recently.
Last season, another one they entered as among Stanley Cup favorites, they started 3-9-1, and head coach Jay Woodcroft was fired as a result. The parachuting in of Kris Knoblauch, Connor McDavid's former junior coach, was seen in some quarters as a sign of desperation, an indication the franchise was deferring to its superstar's wishes. (Or one of them, anyway.) But it worked out just fine. The Oilers went 46-18-5 under Knoblauch, McDavid was his breathtakingly ridiculous self, and while there were some playoff wobbles along the way, they ultimately made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. You can't get any closer.
But it's also true that some of the same things that threatened to derail the Oilers last season have popped up again. Darnell Nurse hasn't had a strong start and his defense partner for two of those games, Travis Dermott, was benched Tuesday. Knoblauch said he's searching for the right person to partner with Nurse, which is fair enough but also not ideal for a defenseman making more than $9 million per season. It shouldn't be hard to find a guy to play alongside someone making top-pairing money.
Skinner, meanwhile, has had an even worse start, giving up five goals in the opener against Winnipeg and another three Saturday against Calgary before being yanked. He at least hung around to get the win Tuesday, but it wasn't like he stole the game. His save percentage now sits at .845, which is actually trending up.
Of course, the reason any of this matters, with such a small sample halfway through October, is that the Oilers are blessed with a pair of generational talents at center in McDavid and Draisatl. The latter signed a giant contract extension in the summer; the former will be eligible to do so in July. McDavid, the captain, has given zero indication he plans to do anything other than re-up in the Alberta capital, even if fans of rival teams want to pretend his angry outburst after a playoff loss captured in Amazon's new NHL documentary series suggests he's become frustrated with life as an Oiler.
Still, there's no escaping the fact the coming months are important for the Oilers. Until McDavid signs a new contract, there will remain that tiny, nagging doubt that he may not, especially if this season goes sideways.
But that's also why Oilers fans should feel confident. The biggest reason for optimism is that the best player in the world is on their team. McDavid's started slowly by his standards, but he's bound to start scoring in bunches again. And then all will be back to normal.
The Oilers will be fine. Probably.
Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.
