Elliotte Friedman issues brutally honest assessments of Oilers’ embarrassing 9-1 meltdown vs. Avalanche

The Edmonton Oilers suffered a 9-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. It was a disappointing night for the Edmonton fans as they watched the game unfold at Rogers Place. The defeat drew strong comments from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on Monday's episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast.

Friedman discussed the Oilers' loss, saying he watched the last minute of the game and noticed Colorado’s effort to score again.

"The Avalanche absolutely wanted that 10th goal," Friedman said. "They went hard. After that 10th goal (9+ one by the Oilers), ... instead of ragging it or shooting it back down to their own end and just lazily passing it around a couple of times, they kept on trying to shoot... They wanted that 10th goal."

Friedman said it looked like Colorado was releasing frustration from past playoff seasons. He added that if he were Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, he would show that clip to his players.

"I would be showing them that," Friedman said. "That here you guys are, you're losing nine to one. You have been the beasts of the Western Conference. The last two years, you have gone to the Stanley Cup final twice in a row. You've had chances to win the Stanley Cup. "You have established yourself as the kings of the Western Conference. And the road to the Stanley Cup goes through you, and Colorado came in and in your home building, they didn't just embarrass you. They wanted to continue embarrassing you. They didn't just want to pile drive you into the ground. They wanted to pile drive you to the molten core of the planet."

Colorado’s top players led the way, starting with Nathan MacKinnon, who scored two goals and had two assists. Cale Makar and Jack Drury each scored twice, and Parker Kelly added two goals and an assist. The Avs improved their record to 9-1-5, whereas the Oilers' record fell to 6-6-4.

The Oilers attempted just 24 shots, and the Avs' Goalie Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves in the win. Only captain Connor McDavid scored a goal for Edmonton.

Friedman also said Knoblauch could use that as a lesson for his players.

"Is that this other team a really good team?They were saying, 'We haven't embarrassed these guys enough. We want to embarrass them even more.' If I was Knobloch, I'd be saying, "These guys, they have no respect for you. We have lost our respect. Teams are laughing at us."," Friedman said. "It doesn't even have to be true."

Stuart Skinner allowed four goals before being replaced by Calvin Pickard. However, the change did not benefit the Oilers, as the Avs scored five more goals on Pickard.

Oilers coach called the 9-1 loss 'rock bottom' for the team

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch called the 9-1 loss to the Avalanche 'rock bottom' for his team. He said his team did not play as a group and lost focus after early goals.

"After the first goal, there was a lot of deflation," Knoblauch said, via NHL. "Especially off the second one, off the face-off, and after that, it was a lot of guys beating themselves up and not playing very well... that’s on the coaching staff, mostly myself, to get that aligned."

The coach noted that the team has faced tough times before and recovered by working hard. This time, he felt they were waiting for improvement instead of creating it.

"I think tonight would be, I definitely hope this is, rock bottom for us," Knoblauch said. "I hope this wakes up a lot of guys.”

Knoblauch hopes this loss helps the players realize what needs to change moving forward. Edmonton has struggled with defense and goaltending, and they have allowed 3.44 goals per game. It was their third straight loss, and there is an urgency to improve.

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Edited by Ankit Kumar