Few explanations for sudden meltdown

What the hell was that?

The Edmonton Oilers had been playing some pretty solid hockey lately, taking on strong playoff teams with a lot more to play for than they did, and the result was their best stretch of the season.

They were 7-2-2 in their last 11 games and starting to look like a half-decent team.

Then came Tuesday — Fan Appreciation Night and an epic seven-goal collapse that brought all of the ugly memories from this lost season flooding back to the surface in a stunned, silent Rogers Place. “It was awful, horrible,” said Connor McDavid, whose threepoint night was lost in the flames of such a humbling defeat. “We had the good start and then the game just went right back to where we were at during the start of the year.

“It’s disappointing. We had been playing well and doing a lot of things right. We obviously didn’t do anything right tonight. We have to find a way to keep pucks out of our net.”

This was a choke job fans might have expected in the cold, dark days of October, or during that back-breaking six-game losing skid in February. But this one, on the heels of a strong stretch, came totally out of left field.

“We got the start we wanted and then I don’t know what happened,” defenceman Adam Larsson said with a sigh. “They are a good team and they are working hard, but our defensive game today was not even close to where it has to be.

“We let them get into the game late in the first and they just kept that rolling into the second. This is not the performance we wanted to put out there today.”

The fact they were up 3-0 in the first 10 minutes might have had something to do with it. The Oilers relaxed, betting a team that was 10-1 in its last 11 games couldn’t score three goals in 50 minutes. They were wrong. Columbus scored seven. “It’s almost like we thought it was going to be an easy night after taking a 3-0 lead,” Milan Lucic said. “There’s a reason why they won 10 in a row before their last loss, and we saw why.

“It’s unfortunate, especially with the games leading up to this one. I thought our effort and attention to detail in the D zone were where we needed it to be to have success. That’s why we were having success … up until this game.”

Edmonton simply had no answer for the Blue Jackets’ quickness and for the offensive abilities of their defence.

“They play a bit of a different game, especially offensively,” McDavid said. “Their D are so mobile and so good offensively that I feel we had a really tough time covering it, especially with motion and that stuff.

“That is something to focus on and work on.”