EDMONTON -- A disappointing 40 minutes gave the Oilers their second straight loss on home ice as the Ottawa Senators ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Pacific Division leaders.

Having lost their last five games by a combined score of 18-4 coming into Sunday, a game against the Atlantic Division’s seventh-place Sens may not have been the easiest to get up for.

The Oilers, however, did not take the slumping Sens lightly - at least to start the game - dominating the first period and looking like a team destined to extend its lead on the Arizona Coyotes, sitting just one point back of Edmonton for the Pacific Division lead.

Ottawa registered the game’s first shot, but that was about the extent of their offense in the first. The Oilers played most of the period in the offensive end and had numerous chances, but not even the league's best power play could find the back of the net. Connor McDavid had his best chance midway through the frame with one of those “classic Connor” moments, maneuvering his way through all five Sens skaters and drawing a penalty as his shot was stopped by Craig Anderson.

McDavid had another similar break on the power play but was unable to beat Anderson for a second time, while Leon Draisaitl hit a post on the same man-advantage.

Jujhar Khaira eventually got the Oilers on the board with his sixth goal of the season. 

On a partial breakaway, Draisaitl fed Khaira across the crease, his shot going over Anderson’s shoulder, finding some twine and giving the Oilers the 1-0 lead.

But despite the dominance, the Oilers were only able to muster one goal in the frame and the missed opportunities would come back to haunt them.

Calling the second period a momentum swing would be an understatement.

“We just stopped playing the right way,” Draisaitl told reporters following the loss.

“It doesn’t matter who you play if you play that way, we aren’t going to win many games.”

It felt a lot like the scene from Disney’s D2: The Mighty Ducks when the team swaps their Team USA jerseys for Mighty Ducks ones during the intermission of a game against Iceland, where they were severely outmatched - except this wasn’t the fictional mighty ducks, or the Junior Goodwill Games - it was the Ottawa Senators in the same white jerseys they started the game with, and there would be no shootout.

The Sens, who only registered four shots in the first period, got their first goal from the fourth line just five minutes into the second, as Artem Anisimov scored just as Khaira’s penalty expired to tie it 1-1.

Just 11 second later, the Senators took the lead on a shot Mikko Koskinen likely wants back. Connor Brown ripped a shot above the faceoff circle that Koskinen could not squeeze making it 2-1 Ottawa.

“I thought our killer instinct was fine in the first period,” Oilers Head Coach, Dave Tippett, said after the game. “But then we gave up those tough goals and then we chased it, it’s hard to chase the game, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing.”

Tyler Ennis extended the lead midway through the second, effectively ending Koskinen’s night after letting in three goals on the eight shots he faced that period.

Tippett didn’t put all the blame on Koskinen though, highlighting the disappointing play from the defensive pair of Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson, each finished minus 4 on the night.

“That pair had a tonight had a tough night,” Tippett summed up the pair’s performance.

“I think we need to find a way to not be too high or too low,” Larsson said. “You can’t win them all, but I mean, a game like this we should recognize when things aren’t going our way and I think we can play a lot smarter that way.”

The Senators put the game away in the third period on goals from Anthony Duclair and Vladislav Namestnikov for a big 5-2 win, ending their losing streak at five games.

The Oilers have now lost three of their last five games and hold a narrow one-point lead on the Coyotes in a tightly-contested Pacific division.

Edmonton hosts the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

GAME NOTES:

  • Oilers Powerplay went 1-7
  • Connor McDavid was minus-2 with 0 points in 24:16 of ice time
  • Draisaitl’s assist ties him with Connor McDavid for scoring lead with 51 points each
  • Klefbom and Larsson a combined minus-8
  • James Neal earns his 19th point of the season tying his total in 2018-19
  • Sam Gagne picked up two assists
  • Four Senators had a multi-point night
  • Oilers 17-10-3 and remain first in Pacific Division with 37 points