In their first game back home after a seven-game road trip, the Edmonton Oilers got blitzed by the Dallas Stars, losing by a score of 8-3 at Rogers Place on Tuesday (Nov. 25) night.
Evan Bouchard, Connor Clattenburg and Jack Roslovic scored for Edmonton. Oilers starting netminder Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on eight shots before being replaced by Calvin Pickard, who stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced.
Nathan Bastian scored twice for the Stars, who also got one goal apiece from Jamie Benn, Roope Hintz, Justin Hryckowian, Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson and Sam Steel. Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger made 22 saves in a winning effort.
After losing to the visiting Stars, Edmonton’s record is now 10-10-5. The Oilers have 25 points, tied with the San Jose Sharks for fifth most in the Pacific Division.
Oilers Make Unfortunate History
Tuesday marked Edmonton’s second time in its last three home games giving up eight or more goals. The Oilers were also defeated 9-1 by the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place on Nov. 8.
Prior to this month, the Oilers had gone 490 consecutive regular season or playoff games at home without allowing more than seven goals. They had never conceded more than seven goals at Rogers Place since moving into the downtown arena in 2016.
Over their last three games at Rogers Place, the Oilers have been scored on an astonishing 21 times. Going back to 1996-97, only two other teams, the 2021-22 Detroit Red Wings and 2023-24 Sharks, have allowed more than 21 goals over a span of three home games. Edmonton’s previous high for most goals against over a stretch of three home contests was 20, which happened twice, in 1995-96 and 2006-07.
Fans of the Oilers have become accustomed to seeing history made during the Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid era. Just not this way.
Deflating Loss for Oilers
After stumbling through the first six weeks of this season, Edmonton finally seemed to be putting things together towards the end of its recent trip.
Last Thursday (Nov. 20) at Benchmark International Arena, the Oilers played a strong road game against the host Tampa Bay Lightning, leading for nearly all of regulation before ultimately losing in overtime. Then on Saturday (Nov. 22), in a highly anticipated matchup of opponents from the last two Stanley Cup Final series, Edmonton defeated the Florida Panthers by a score of 6-3 at Amerant Bank Arena, winning by more than two goals for only the second time this season.
That left the Oilers with a solid 3-3-1 record on their marathon road trip. They had survived this gruelling excursion that many fans worried would spell doom for the team. Now the Oilers were headed back home to the friendly confines of Rogers Place, had nearly 72 hours before their next game, and had a golden opportunity to continue building momentum from their massive victory in Sunrise.
Related: Stars Cruise to Commanding 8-3 Victory Over Oilers
Facing the Stars, a championship-contending rival that Edmonton has beaten in the Western Conference Final each of the last two springs, the Oilers should have brought all sorts of energy into Tuesday’s tilt. But that’s not what happened.
The Oilers came out flat, playing with a listlessness typical of their effort over the first 25 games of the season. Benn opened the scoring at 3:48, and Dallas was off to the races. By the end of the first period, the Stars led 4-0 and had almost as many goals as Edmonton had shots (five). There were still 40 minutes to play, but this game was effectively over. The Stars’ lead swelled to 6-1 after two periods.
This is a recurring theme for the Oilers, who still don’t have a win streak longer than two games in 2025-26. Every time they seem to be turning the corner, they run into a brick wall of their own making. If the Oilers’ performance against the Florida teams represented two steps forward, then their showing on Tuesday represents one massive leap back.
Clattenburg Scores First Goal
There was really only one bright spot for the home team on Tuesday, but it was one that made all Oilers fans smile, even in spite of the score.
In only his second career NHL regular season game (and first in Edmonton) Clattenburg scored goal No. 1 of his NHL career when he banged home a rebound past Oettinger at 4:39 of the second period, making the score 4-1 in favour of Dallas.
It was a tremendous shift for Clattenburg, who delivered a big body check that prevented Dallas from getting the puck out of its zone, then went to the net and scored the goal he’ll never forget.
Clattenburg finished the night with a game-high seven hits, while only two other Edmonton skaters had more than one hit. Maybe if more Oilers played with the fire of the 20-year-old forward, Tuesday’s scoreboard would have been a little less lopsided.
Edmonton will now have three days to regroup from this latest setback, as the Oilers will not be back in action until Saturday (Nov. 29), when they visit the Seattle Kraken.
