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Edmonton Oilers fans up in arms following latest comments from Knoblauch

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Mar 20 2026, 2:55 pm
Edmonton Oilers fans up in arms following latest comments from Knoblauch
Walter Tychnowicz/Imagn Images

One would think that a lifeless effort versus the team that defeated you in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals is extremely concerning. The same doesn’t hold true for Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.

Searching for just their third three-game winning streak of the season, the Oilers were on home ice on Thursday night to take on the Florida Panthers. It’s a game you would think the Oilers would have been geared up for. Instead, they laid an egg.

The Panthers were by far and away the better team all night long and walked away with a decisive 4-0 victory. Fans and media were quite concerned about the lack of push and intensity from the Oilers, but Knoblauch seemed to see things very differently.

“I don’t see it that they didn’t show up and play tonight,” Knoblauch said. “We came out strong. First 10 minutes, I thought we held majority of the play… Overall, I would maybe criticize us not shooting the puck enough. I thought the effort was there, we just couldn’t find a goal.”

Most saw an entirely different game, one in which the Oilers trailed 2-0 after the first period and showed little signs of life the rest of the way. Making it all the more frustrating was that with a win, the Oilers would have taken first place in the Pacific Division.

“I certainly don’t think we were outplayed,” Knoblauch said. “Maybe if we wanted more enthusiasm, with maybe more fights, physicality, we could have some of that. But the fact that we just didn’t put the puck in the net, and they did. I think that was the big story of the game.”

In the Oilers’ defence, they were without Leon Draisaitl last night, as the 30-year-old superstar is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season with a lower-body injury. That said, last night’s game was a far cry from what they displayed two nights prior in a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.

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The opportunity to win the Pacific Division still remains despite the fact that the Oilers have lost more games than they’ve won on the season. Efforts like Thursday night, however, are a microcosm of how they’ve played in 2025-26, which, at least to the fan base, is a major concern given that they have just 12 games remaining.

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