from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The Edmonton Oilers are back to looking like they don’t believe, a familiar look in the land that playoff hockey forgot.

They’ve lost whatever spirit they had, not to mention 11 of their past 15 games, and we all know where it goes from here. This isn’t a one-game thing, it’s a 10-year thing. And it always finds its way to a game like the one the Oilers played Friday, a 5-1 embarrassment at home to Calgary.

“We were off three days for Christmas, and we didn’t come with the mindset to prepare to play a hard game. We were loose,” said head coach Dave Tippett. “When you haven’t skated for three days, show up with the purpose to prepare. Prepare the right way. We were loose the whole (morning skate). We didn’t prepare well enough to win and it showed right from the drop of the puck.”

He talked to his team about it before the game. They didn’t respond even a little.

The first Battle of Alberta of the season. A full house on a Friday night. Fresh off a few nice days off, and nobody is ready to play?

continued

Below, watch Dave Tippett post-game.