The Winnipeg Jets were at home Thursday night, riding a 10-game losing streak and desperately searching for anything that might give a little hope to this organization. They're now at 11 straight losses after a 4-3 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers that somehow felt worse than the final score suggests.
The Winnipeg Jets were at home Thursday night, riding a 10-game losing streak and desperately searching for anything that might give a little hope to this organization. They're now at 11 straight losses after a 4-3 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers that somehow felt worse than the final score suggests.
Down 3-1 after the first period, the Oilers mounted a comeback that exposed just how fragile Winnipeg has become. Connor McDavid scored late in the second. Evan Bouchard unleashed a clapper. And somewhere in the middle of it all, the Jets went an absolutely embarrassing 25 and a half minutes without registering a single shot on net.
Twenty-five and a half minutes. At home. In front of their own fans. That's organizational collapse playing out in real time.
But before the Oilers could complete their comeback, something needed to spark them. Enter Trent Frederic, fresh off a healthy scratch, doing what he apparently only does after sitting out: dropping the gloves.
"Big fight for Freddy to get us going, that really rallied us together," Evan Bouchard said afterward.
Here's the thing about Frederic: this is becoming a pattern. He gets scratched, comes back into the lineup, and immediately fights. It's weird and now predictable. You'd think a player trying to prove he deserves to stay in the lineup would focus on the things he was brought here to do—physicality, energy, making life difficult for opponents on every shift. Instead, he seems to save his most engaged moments for the game immediately following a healthy scratch.
Oilers Schedule Eases, But Still Looks WeirdThe Edmonton Oilers' schedule has finally eased up. The brutal stretch of back-to-backs and grinding road trips is mostly behind them. But if you look at what's ahead, something feels off. They're playing a lot of one-game road trips sandwiched between home games. It's not necessarily bad, but it's hard not to feel like the Oilers drew the short end of the stick here.
Still, the impact was real. Frederic stood up for McDavid, fought a bigger opponent, and gave the Oilers a jolt when they needed it. Two shifts later, they scored. Coincidence? Zach Hyman doesn't think so.
"It's a great team win for us. I think a lot of guys contributed in different ways. Fighting, as much as people want to phase it out of the game, (has) an element to it that can help turn the team game around. And I thought Freddie sticking up for Davo, fighting a big man, (was huge). People think it's a coincidence that we score a couple shifts later, but I think there's something to that, and he's done it a couple times now. So good on Fred," Hyman said.
The debate about fighting's place in hockey will go on forever, but in this game, at this moment, it mattered. The Oilers were flat, down by two, and needed something to shift the energy. Frederic provided it. Whether he can provide consistent value beyond post-scratch fight nights is still the big question.
Lazar and Kapanen Get It: The Unglamorous Work Still MattersFor weeks, the conversation around the Oilers' bottom six has been dominated by what's missing. What Trent Frederic isn't providing. What Andrew Mangiapane won't do. The frustration over players who haven't embraced the roles the team needs them to fill.
McDavid's late second-period goal was vintage McDavid—attacking with speed, finding space, finishing. He's been on an absolute tear lately, and facing a team as defensively broken as Winnipeg right now is basically target practice. The Jets couldn't contain him, couldn't slow him down, couldn't do anything but watch him do his thing.
Then came Bouchard's bomb from the point. When the Oilers' power play is humming and Bouchard has time and space to load up, good luck stopping it. The Jets didn't even try. They were already mentally checked out, going through the motions of a team that's lost all confidence.
That 25-and-a-half-minute stretch without a shot is brutal. It's not just offensive struggles—it's a complete inability to generate anything. The Oilers aren't exactly a defensive juggernaut, yet Winnipeg couldn't even get pucks to the net. That's what happens when you lose 11 straight. The mental fragility sets in, and suddenly, you can't do basic hockey things anymore.
Oilers Provide Rough Adam Henrique Injury UpdateThe Oilers have provided a new injury update for forward Adam Henrique. "We've all been in the situation that the Jets are in, (not) winning games. It's not easy to close out games," Hyman said.
He's right. When you're spiralling like Winnipeg, even leading 3-1 after one period doesn't feel safe. You're waiting for something to go wrong because everything has been going wrong. The Oilers capitalized on that fragility, and the Jets had no answer.
The win keeps Edmonton moving forward, even if they still haven't won three straight this season. They're taking points where they should, beating teams they're supposed to beat. That consistency matters, especially in a tight playoff race.
Oilers Winger Lands High Spot On New Trade BoardCould this Oilers forward be on the move? For Winnipeg, this is rock bottom. Eleven straight losses. Can't generate offense for half the game. Blowing multi-goal leads at home. At some point, changes are coming. This isn't sustainable.
The Oilers did what they needed to do. They rallied, they fought back, and they handed a broken team another loss. Whether Frederic can contribute more than just post-scratch fight nights remains to be seen, but Thursday night, it was enough.
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Category: General Sports
