The Edmonton Oilers added key defensive pieces to their roster before the trade deadline to lower their goals against, but in the first game since retooling the lineup, they once again had a tough time keeping the puck out of their net in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

There’s no other way to put it — the pressure is on the Oilers to start winning games. They’re now only three points above the playoff cut line, and it doesn’t get any easier with upcoming matchups against the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars.

That said, in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we discuss the drop in impact from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together at five-on-five, early impressions of Jason Dickinson, the goaltending situation, Zach Hyman’s hot streak, and Jake Walman’s struggles.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl haven’t been “nuclear” at 5-on-5 lately

After the last game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Jason Gregor mentioned to head coach Kris Knoblauch that McDavid and Draisaitl together at five-on-five are only 1 and actually have better numbers when playing on different lines. He asked Knoblauch about his thought process for putting them together and why that duo hasn’t had the “nuclear” factor as much as in the past, and the head coach responded by saying:

“I’m not sure. You’re hoping that it’s going to break at some point. Obviously, they spend a lot of time in the offensive zone.” He added,  “They spend a lot of time in the offensive zone, you don’t get anything, and then they have to counter and defend, maybe tired. Maybe that’s why they haven’t been scoring as much as they typically have. And I think probably the biggest downtrend would be, just obviously, not scoring as often as they used to.”

I’m glad Gregor brought that up to the coach, because when all else fails, loading up the top line with McDavid and Draisaitl is Knoblauch’s number one go-to. But the fact is, the dynamic duo haven’t been lights out like they used to be. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve scored 18 goals together at five-on-five while allowing 16. In trying to figure out why that pairing hasn’t been “nuclear,” perhaps Knoblauch is onto something — with them getting offensive zone time but not scoring, other teams take advantage on the counterattack, combined with the opposition scouting their plays and keeping them in check.

I understand that at some point, you........

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