The Edmonton Oilers suffered their first regulation loss of the season against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday and realized there are still improvements to be made after a strong start.
Mammoth captain Clayton Keller potted a pair of goals while forwards Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz had two points each as Utah defeated the Oilers 4-2 for their third straight win and sit atop the Central Division with a 6-2-0 record early in the season.
After the game, Oilers head coach Mike Babcock praised the Mammoth’s play throughout their entire lineup and realized that his team needs some more depth.
“They have a deep team and we’re going to have a deep team, too, but right now we’re not as deep and I thought that showed tonight,” Babcock told reporters after the game. “We needed our big boys. Obviously, I played them too much, but I thought we competed and put in a good effort.
“I thought we worked. We played a pretty good team here tonight and I thought we we worked. The good thing for us is we’re getting to see everyone in the organization and we’re seeing who can play and who can’t. They’re getting a great opportunity to show that. We’re getting good players back, we’ll put them in and get going from here.”
The Oilers received goals from star forward Leon Draisaitl and defenceman Shakir Mukhamadullin while Connor McDavid, Evan Bouchard, Mathieu Joseph, and Owen Michaels picked up assists.
McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, and Vasily Podkolzin have scored 22 of Edmonton’s 31 goals so far this season.
“It was a tight-checking game, both teams really dug in,” McDavid said after the game. “I thought it was a great game all around. Two good teams that were working and checking and it came down to special teams, they found a way to get a couple and we didn’t.
“We expect to win every night no matter who is in the lineup, it’s just the way it is.”
Edmonton has a number of regulars out of the lineup due to injury, including forwards Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matthew Savoie, Colton Dach, Jason Dickinson, Mattias Janmark, defenceman Alec Regula, and goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Hyman appeared during the team’s season-opening loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 29 but has been out since with an upper-body injury. Nugent-Hopkins has yet to play this season after sustaining a lower-body injury during practice the day before the season began.
Both players have been skating with the team recently and the pair’s eventual return to the lineup will add more offensive depth, as they’ve been relied upon for secondary scoring throughout their Oilers’ tenure. Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman combined for 51 goals and 108 points last season,
Additionally, Savoie continues to work himself back from an undisclosed injury he sustained during the off-season after a successful rookie season last year. Savoie had 18 goals and 37 points in 82 games in 2025-26 and was expected to contribute on one of the top two lines this year.
“I’m real lucky with the way the games have been spaced out that I’ve been able to [ride the first line] a little bit. But that’s not the NHL, it’s impossible,” Babcock said. “Tonight we were behind and we pushed. We’ll give them a day off tomorrow and get back at it for the next game, but it has to stop. I look at it every night and I think, ‘what the heck am I doing?’ I’m also trying to survive right now and that’s what I’ve been doing. A lot of our other guys have done a phenomenal job for us, so we’re in a good spot right now. I’m just hoping that we’ve bought enough time to get some guys [back].
“I think you’re going to see right away as we get deeper, we’re going to get more production from people. But that’s just not our situation right now.”