On Thursday morning, the Edmonton Oilers announced they fired head coach Dave Tippett after the Oilers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. Perhaps more damning was how they lost. Trailing 2-1 going into the third period, rather than running up the shots and pressing for the tying goal, they got out shot, out chanced, out scored and just overall dominated in the final period. This was after losing 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights the day before, a game in which Craig Button called the Oilers “pathetic in this game”.
Maybe because of defense like this.
The Oilers are now 7-14-3 since the start of December when their tailspin started, and fallen completely out of the playoffs in the worst division in the entire NHL by far.