from Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Journal,

With their wiggle room gone but their momentum back, the Edmonton Oilers — 2-11-2 during the worst of this season and 5-0-1 heading into the All-star break — charged into the second half of their schedule Tuesday at full speed.

And ran right into a brick wall.

The Oilers had been running hot, having played themselves back into the playoff picture after a disastrous six-week slide that nearly ended their season, but they reverted back to a lot of their bad habits in falling well short in a measuring stick showdown with the Vegas Golden Knights.

“I thought our execution wasn’t near what it needed to be tonight,” said head coach Dave Tippett after a humbling 4-0 home ice defeat. “From puck movement in our own end to getting up the ice to passing up some shots and some net drive stuff, the execution wasn’t near at the level we needed to be at.”

Opening a stretch of 40 games and 25 flights in 81 days, and hoping to get some early traction before eight games 13 days catches up with them, the Oilers got behind early and stayed there for good. They were easily the second best team on the ice on this night.

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