Dallas completely browbeat the Edmonton Oilers for the second time this season, and it begs the question: what is this team missing? Why are they unable to show up consistently?

After the Olympic break the Oilers have been playing middling hockey at best. They won two huge games, a convincing win against the Vegas Golden Knights, and a nailbiter character win against the Colorado Avalanche.

But then it all fell apart Thursday evening. The Oilers once again were scored on by the first shot on net. They ended the first period 3-0, and they made sure the hole got even bigger letting in another two goals to start the second. Dallas scored five times before Edmonton could even get onto the board.

The most frustrating part of the game is that the team played an okay third period. Connor McDavid went to the penalty box for roughing (name the last time you saw that happen) and the team generally fought with some passion for the remaining 20 minutes. The Oilers are plagued by inconsistency though. If they had played a full 60 minutes of hard checking confident hockey, they might not have been ran out of the building with their tails tucked in.

The Oilers do one thing consistently, they play scared and respect their opponent too much, to the point where they can walk into their zone and score against Edmonton at will.

There’s little positive to gain from a game like this when this isn’t the first time this year they’ve been taught this lesson, or the second, or the third – it’s not even the first time this year that they’ve been beat into submission by Dallas.

Can the Oilers finally turn a page and play the hockey this groups thinks they’re capable of? Maybe, but 66 games in and we still haven’t seen it.

The Edmonton Oilers square off tonight’s brutal loss with a back-to-back showing in St. Louis tomorrow night.