Mired in a three-game losing streak and sitting 13th overall in the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers are a fragile group at the moment.
Just ask Taylor Hall.
“I don’t sense confidence from the team right now,” Hall told the Edmonton Journal following Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss in Columbus. “It’s hard to have it when you haven’t been stringing together wins.”
Examples of Edmonton lacking confidence are all over the place -- here’s more, from the Journal:
Goaltender Devan Dubnyk has one win in his last seven games and has been on the hook for two or more goals in six of those outings.
The Oilers power play is running at zero for the last three games and they are still waiting for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to find his touch again. He has just one goal in 21 games.
As a team, the Oilers are giving up a league-high average of 34 shots a game and producing a substandard average of 2.36 goals a game.
The next two weeks should prove crucial for the Oilers.
They have four more games left on their season high nine-game road trip -- tonight in Detroit, Friday in Nashville, Sunday in Chicago and Tuesday in Colorado -- before returning to Rexall for a four-game homestand.
If Edmonton can stay alive in the playoff picture ‘til April, they’ll have a chance to make up some ground late in the season.
The Oilers play seven of their final nine games at home, five of which come against Northwest Division opponents.