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All teams, even good ones, run into dry spells, so this doesn’t mean they’ve reverted back to their old ways, but a strong performance would certainly calm the masses.

Stepping up

The Oilers did a fantastic job with the schedule that was put in front of them, but now they are stepping up a weight class against the Capitals.

This is their toughest opponent of the season so far and a real test of their mettle — a true measuring stick game for a 7-2-1 team that wants to prove itself.

Home-schooling

After going 18-19-4 at Rogers Place last year, the Oilers were determined to make it a tougher place to visit and have laid the groundwork for that with a 4-0 start there.

While they are 0-2-1 with one goal in their last three road games, they’ve been a resilient group at home. That’s a quality they’ll need against the Caps.

Slump?

It seems absurd that anyone would refer to it as a slump when a player is held pointless for three games for just the second time in his career, but that’s where Connor McDavid sets the bar.

The Oilers captain has made spectacular seem routine for so long that on nights where he’s good, not great, people ask what’s wrong.

A little help

Even when the Oilers were winning, their lack of scoring help from the bottom six was being raised as a concern.

Now that they’re losing and not scoring, it’s a problem.

The team is 10 games into the season and rookie defenceman Ethan Bear has more goals (2) than the bottom nine forwards combined (1).