Edmonton Oilers’s 6-1 loss Columbus Blue Jackets – Source: Imagn

The Edmonton Oilers were handed a disappointing 6-1 loss by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. The defeat was made even worse by the fact that Oilers superstar Connor McDavid exited the game early in the first period with a lower-body injury.

Former NHL player Terry Ryan opined that the Oilers’ blowout loss to the Blue Jackets was the type of game that would get a head coach fired under different circumstances.

Speaking on the Jason Gregor Show, Ryan said:

“Watching the game to me, nor I’m saying (Kris) Knoblauch doing great job, I really, really think Knoblauch doing a great job. This isn’t like a permanent criticism, but sometimes you get sleeping, I don’t if its Stanley Cup hangover, I really don’t. Does anybody really?

“What I can tell is that, but if this is another time, another place, it was kind of game that gets a coach fired” he added.

Ryan went on to criticize the Edmonton Oilers’ response after losing McDavid, saying:

“Like, you know, you got to at least show the other team that you’re not going to roll over.”

With the loss, the Oilers dropped to a 4-5-1 record this season. They will look to bounce back on Thursday when they face the Nashville Predators on the road.

Edmonton Oilers HC Kris Knoblauch on 6-1 loss to Columbus

Kris Knoblauch was disappointed with the loss and he felt that the Edmonton Oilers were ready to contend but an early penalty kill goal stopped their flow of the game.

“We gave up an early penalty kill goal after a guy lost an edge and took out the goalie. They called a penalty and Columbus got an early one on us on the penalty kill… I think it was a little deflating for our team,” Knoblauch said post-game.

The coach acknowledged the mistakes Edmonton made ended up in the back of their net but didn’t place all the blame on goalie Stuart Skinner.

“The mistakes we made went in the net, not that I’m blaming Stuy (Skinner) because there wasn’t much opportunity for him to save those,” Knoblauch said.

He added that Columbus was able to capitalize on the Oilers’ errors while Edmonton failed to do the same at the other end.