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And you thought last year’s edition of the Edmonton Oilers got off to a terrible, terrible, no good, very bad start?

The current team might as well have come into this season with an orange and blue banner that read, “Hold my beer.”

While the sample size has been small so far, in terms of early starts, this was about the worst since 2015 – when a certain first overall draft pick by the name of Connor McDavid took his first steps in the NHL.

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Heading into Tuesday’s game against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, the Oilers were in danger of going 0-4 for the first time since then.

Somehow, things were off to an even worse start than last year, en route to a franchise-low 2-9-1 start that spelled the end for head coach Jay Woodcroft in Edmonton despite a .643 winning percentage.

That was the best club until his replacement, Kris Knoblauch elevated it by surpassing the .700 mark and getting the team back on track for a push to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

That’s the part we knew.

The part we didn’t do was have them follow the same formula – however unproven and unlikely – again this season.

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And while it’s highly unlikely that no matter how bad things get this time around, Oilers management could even hope to pull the trigger on another coaching change and have it turn out even half as well, you can rest assured that Knoblauch feels like he’s in trouble. proverbial hot seat.

Hence the decision to follow the Oilers’ tried and true contingency plan… or is it fallout, since it’s only four games and they’ve already combined their two biggest weapons, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two of the best centers you can find. find in the competition, on the same line.

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It’s the nuclear option, because if it doesn’t go according to plan, there will be nothing left of the Oilers’ arsenal. So forgive them if they had to suppress at least some “do or die” feeling on Tuesday.

“Just, I guess, so they all feel it, have the puck and start making plays,” Knoblauch said of the rationale behind his lineup moves coming out of Tuesday morning’s skate. “Right now, for any experienced player and for any player in particular, you feel much better when you get that first goal or assist.

“And hopefully they can play their best game with our best players.”

The dynamic duo, of course, appears together on the Oilers power play, which has been mediocre at 20 percent after going 1-for-5 through three games.

Now it’s time to find out how McDavid and Draisaitl fare together at even strength.

On the other hand, puck deployment is only part of the equation under which the Oilers have found themselves buried.

“I think we’ve had enough looks to score more goals than we’ve scored,” Draisaitl said Tuesday morning. “So I don’t think it’s just defense, but I think our starting point has to be defense and worry about keeping the puck out of our net.

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“And that gives us a chance every night.”

An opportunity, for sure. But what they really need to find are answers. Mainly why one of the most potent offenses in the NHL hasn’t been able to fight its way out of a damp towel since the last time they were 0-3, in the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s not ideal. It’s not where we wanted to be,” Draisaitl said. “We’ve been emphasizing a good start and we haven’t had that, so there’s obviously some frustration.

“Tonight is a great opportunity for us to win and go from there. And building our game so that we get better every day.”

Podkolzin up, Skinner down

Knoblauch also brought newcomer Vasily Podkolzin to the second line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Viktor Arvidsson, leaving Jeff Skinner as the odd man out – despite being the only Oilers player to score 5-on-5 without a defenseman from to have the opponent score an own goal.

Skinner’s name was on the third line on Tuesday.

At the same time, defense has weighed heavily on the team’s spirits, being outscored by a 5:1 ratio in its first three games.

Four games later, Darnell Nurse was paired with his third different partner this season, as the Oilers continue to search for replacements for the likes of Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais and Philip Broberg – hardly the three worst losses an NHL team has had to make up for. But it is becoming increasingly clear that these are pieces that fit well here.

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“I think it’s important when building chemistry that you have the right partner to play with and know what each guy wants,” Knoblauch said. “But we also have other couples that we’re trying to build chemistry with as well.

“It’s not ideal that Darnell has had as many partners as he has.”

Email: [email protected]

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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