Oilers off to rocky start again, seek improvement vs. Flyers

The Edmonton Oilers have been down this road before, spinning their wheels to start the season while in search of the nearest off-ramp.

Just a few months after reaching the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers have dropped their first three games of this season.

They'll try to end that skid when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in the finale of their four-game homestand.

"Up and down the lineup, myself first and foremost, everybody could be better, and everybody will be better," Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. "We're not quitters in here, we never have been. Losing three in a row off the bat is not ideal, but it is nothing we can't work out of."

Edmonton has been outscored 15-3 in the three losses. The last two defeats came against the Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames, teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs last season.

"I think we just show up, play hockey and (think) that's good enough, but this game is about playing with desperation, and right now we're lacking that," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.

On the bright side, the Oilers started 2-9-1 last season before rebounding to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, but it also cost them their head coach -- the team fired Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Knoblauch.

"We're not off to a good start, obviously," McDavid said. "There have been a couple of bad bounces with some of those goals not going our way, obviously. Ultimately it's just not good enough. I'm sure there are lots of ways to explain it, but ultimately it hasn't been good enough."

The Flyers opened the season with a four-game road trip and they've split their first two games so far, beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in a shootout in their season opener on Friday and losing 6-3 in Calgary the following night.

"You can't win every game in this league," Philadelphia forward Joel Farabee said. "Just keep focusing on us here on this trip and we'll keep getting better each day."

Travis Konecny leads the Flyers with two goals so far, including his first short-handed goal of the season. Konecny led the NHL with six short-handed goals last season. Philadelphia has also notched two power-play goals in eight man-advantage situations so far.

"There's some things to like, but definitely some things to clean up, too," Farabee said.

The Flyers gave up the first two goals of the game against Calgary just 2:06 apart in the first period, battled back to make it a 3-2 deficit entering the third and kept it there until giving up two more goals just 48 seconds apart in the closing minutes.

"There were a lot of good things in the game, but there's a number of things we have to continue to work on," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "There were misfires. We'll work at our game and try to get better."

The Flyers showed they're willing to stick up for each other against the Flames.

Tyson Foerster received instigator and 10-minute misconduct penalties in the second period after teammate Jamie Drysdale was hit hard by Martin Pospisil.

"We are not going to get pushed around," Farabee said. "That's kind of what being a Flyer is about."