TAIT'S EIGHT: A tough night for the Oilers in Columbus

Long-time sports journalist Cam Tait joins EdmontonOilers.com to deliver eight thoughts from a disappointing evening in Columbus for the Oilers on Monday. Living with Cerebral Palsy his entire life, Cam hasn't let his condition prevent him from having a successful 45-year career as a sports writer, with bylines seen in the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun.

8. The most unfortunate start

Captain Connor McDavid crashed into the boards during his first shift and then skated off the ice, favouring his left leg. He did not return to the game.

"He's going back to Edmonton to get evaluated," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I'll have [an update] later tomorrow."

7. What’s the plan, Stan?

General Manager Stan Bowman is on the trip and will have an update on who will replace McDavid.

"With Stan [Bowman] being here, we've discussed it and we'll make that decision either tonight or tomorrow about who's coming up to replace him."

6. Not like last night

For the second straight game, the Oilers had issues early on and were scored on with the first shot of the game. Columbus gave themselves a 1-0 lead when Sean Monahan scored on Skinner with a redirection on a shot-pass delivered by Kirill Marchenko from the right circle.

Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: "I think just trusting that the way that we play will be good enough to get it done. Even if we're down a couple of goals, just play with the same mindset and play a simple game. Play with speed and use each other. We don't need to force things. We don't need to cheat the game. What we do is good enough to win on most nights, and tonight, we got away from it a little bit and started losing some battles and they took over."

Sadly, it was a sign to come: the Blue Jackets scored on their next three shots for a 3-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the first period.

5. Now, that’s a long time

The Oilers and shut-outs on the road... well, they are few and far between. We have to go waaay back to Jan. 23 on the road when Edmonton was shut out 3-0 to the New York Islanders. Mattias Ekholm ket that impressive defensive stat alive by scoring with 27 seconds left in the final period, breaking up Elvis Merzlikins' shutout.

4, Hyman still on a mission

Zach Hyman had a few good chances to get his first goal of the season. First, there was a rush down the left side where he cut in front of the net.

Then, the same play, this time on the right side, and later, splitting the Columbus defence and going in tight on the goalie. However, he still continues to search for goal No. 1 this season through 10 games.

3. Three’s all over

Skinner let in his first three shots, but Coach Knoblauch isn't about to hang this defeat on his goaltender.

"I thought we were ready to go and we gave up a goal early," he said. "The penalty-kill goal starts with our guy losing an edge, taking out the goalie, and they call the penalty and then, they get an early one on us. And I think it was a little deflating for our team. It just seemed like the mistakes that we made went in the net, and it's not that I'm blaming Stewie because there wasn't much opportunity to save those. That first goal against was a tough one."

2. Penalty kill shuts the door

Despite the score, the Oilers penalty kill did their job. At one point in the game, the Blue Jackets did not get a shot on a four-minute power play from a Derek Ryan double minor for high-sticking. Edmonton did score a power-play goalas well, but it was a late consolation through Mattias Ekholm and makes it 4-for-29 this season for the Oilers power play.

1. Halloween in Nashville

I wonder if there will be any trick-or-treaters dressing up as country music stars when the Oilers meet the Predators for the second time this season on Thursday night. They were victorious there once already this season, winning 4-2 a few weeks ago back on Oct. 17.