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McDavid baffled by Oilers' meltdown vs. Senators: 'I wish I had an answer'

Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty

Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid was nearly at a loss for words after his club's 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

"I'm not sure what to tell you," McDavid said when asked to evaluate what happened in the defeat. "Obviously, it's been a long layoff. Come in and work ourselves to a 3-1 lead and give it away."

The 25-year-old added: "I wish I had an answer for you. We've talked it over and over and over again in that room and, obviously, we haven't found an answer yet. That being said, we gotta show up, and we got three practices here before our next one, and we get back to work."

The Oilers entered the third period of Saturday's contest with a 3-1 lead but surrendered five goals in the final frame. It was Edmonton's first contest in 10 days after several of its games were postponed.

McDavid finished the game without a point, with the Oilers getting goals from Brendan Perlini, Darnell Nurse, Zack Kassian, and Kailer Yamamoto. Third-string goaltender Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 25 shots.

Kassian didn't offer any excuses about the team's performance.

"Hockey's a weird game at times. (This is) the same group at the beginning of the year that was one of the best teams in the league, and now we seem like we're finding ways to lose when we need to find ways to win," he said. "That snowball going downhill, I don't think that's an excuse anymore. We had that off break; all those postponements, I think, was a perfect time to regroup."

The Oilers sit sixth in the Pacific Division with an 18-15-2 record. The club is 2-6-2 in its last 10 games after a hot start to the 2021-22 season.

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