Are the Oilers falling into a familiar pattern?

Smith gaffe reminiscent of infamous Battle of Alberta blunder in 1986 playoffs

First round upsets are part of what make the Stanley Cup playoffs one of the most exquisite times of the year on the entire sports calendar.

For 82 games, 32 NHL teams play to be one of the 16 to make it into the playoffs and eight of them win the right to open with home ice advantage in their firstround series.

Lose Game 1, as the Edmonton Oilers did for the third consecutive year Monday at Rogers Place, and you become instantly eligible to become one of those teams again.

Last year, five of the eight firstround series ended up being won by the lower-seeded team.

The year before, four of the eight best-of-five play-in series were won by the lower-seeded team.

After two-and-a-half months of succeeding essentially playing playoff hockey for new head coach Jay Woodcroft, the Oilers were greeted by their first playoff crowd since 2017 replicating scenes from the past. And, once again, the team failed to match the emotion and energy supplied by its fans and use it for all that it was worth.

This Oilers team that had not lost in regulation in its past 15 home games and had finished five points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings returned to the scene for practice Tuesday with its fan base wondering once again if this star-studded hockey club had matured to the point not to let it happen to them again.

Or is this here we go again?

You should know that teams that win Game 1 of a best-ofseven Stanley Cup playoff series are 499-228, or 68.7 per cent, when it comes to winning the series.

The Connor Mcdavid-leon Draisaitl editions of the Oilers have now lost Game 1 of every single Stanley Cup playoff series they've played at Rogers Place, including the first round six-game series triumph over the San Jose Sharks in 2017 en route to going to Game 7 of the Pacific Division final against the Anaheim Ducks that opened in California.

The Western Conference fifth-place Oilers, of course, lost Game 1 of the best-of-five play-in series in the hub city bubble to the 12th-place Chicago Blackhawks two years ago, 6-4. Edmonton replaced Mike Smith in goal with Mikko Koskinen and won 6-3 in Game 2 before losing the final two games 4-3 and 3-2.

Last year, Smith was back in net for Game 1 for the Oilers team that had finished with 72 points in the Canadian Division against the 63-point Winnipeg Jets, lost 4-1 and proceeded to return to lose three consecutive overtime games in a sweep by the Jets.

The Oilers go into Game 2 on Wednesday at Rogers Place with some longtime fans wondering if perhaps Steve Smith happened to them Monday in the person of Mike Smith.

It was April 30, 1986, when Steve Smith scored on his own net against the Calgary Flames. That wasn't Game 1 of a firstround series. It was Game 7 of the Smythe Division final.

That's when the rookie Oilers defenceman came from behind his own net and misjudged where goaltender Grant Fuhr was located in the crease and bounced the puck in off him.

Fifteen minutes remained in the game but the Oilers couldn't recover. They'd won two previous Stanley Cups and would win the following two as well. So it cost them a chance to win five in a row.

It was judged to be the worst own goal in Stanley Cup history.

What happened Monday had to rank right down there as 40-year-old Mike Smith, the best puck-handing goalie in the game, went behind the net to retrieve the puck and fired it right out front to Alex Iafallo. Smith made an incredible diving save off Iafallo but in the ensuing chaos Phillip Danault scored the winner.

There are all sorts of ways to put your name on a game in a Stanley Cup playoff series, but giving up an absolute abomination of a goal like Smith did late in the third period would rank way up there.

The goaltender, who has now lost five of the last seven Stanley Cup games this Oilers team has managed to drop over the last three seasons, invented about as spectacular a way to do it as a goalie can create.

Smith made such an incredibly dumb decision with the game tied 3-3 and only 5:14 remaining that Hockey Night in Canada's Kelly Hrudey on the post-game show suggested it was worthy of Smith going back to the dressing room and apologizing to his teammates.

It was Game 1, not Game 7. But it was the one play everybody would go home talking about and would still be talking about when they go back to Rogers Place for Game 2.

The fans will bounce back. But will the Oilers? It's becoming an annual question in Edmonton.

The Connor Mcdavid-leon Draisaitl editions of the Oilers have now lost Game 1 of every single Stanley Cup playoff series they've played at Rogers Place