When you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, it’s bound to catch up to you.

Throughout the first quarter of the season, the Rangers continue to breakdown in front of their goalies. It doesn’t matter which one plays. For a while, Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick were covering up for all the miscues. Unfortunately, they can’t keep stealing games. While it’s nice to have a great tandem, who can deliver the clutch saves, it isn’t sustainable for success.

After a lackluster performance in a 3-2 loss against the Flames, they were even worse against the Oilers on Saturday night. Like a bad repeat, the Rangers got off to another slow start. The only thing that prevented Edmonton from scoring early was Quick. For most of a lopsided first period, he kept the explosive Oilers off the scoreboard. Eventually, sloppy play led to two Oilers’ goals in the final 2:36.

An Artemi Panarin turnover inside the Edmonton blue line started the nightmare. Despite having both Braden Schneider and Victor Mancini back with Vincent Trocheck on the backcheck, Leon Draisaitl was able to find enough time and space to hit the trailing Vasily Podkolzin for his first goal of the season. Schneider backed in too much, which allowed Podkolzin to get off a good one-timer that Quick was screened on by his own defenseman. Schneider played that poorly.

Even the power play got victimized. Connor Brown pushed the puck by Adam Fox to send Mattias Janmark off to the races. With Fox lumbering back, Janmark skated around the net until he found a wide-open Darnell Nurse for a shorthanded goal with less than nine seconds remaining in the period.

It was another complete breakdown. Despite having both Fox and Vincent Trocheck back, both Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad forgot about Nurse. He was left all alone to take a Janmark feed and beat a visibly frustrated Quick to put them in a two-goal hole headed to the locker room. Both Kreider and Zibanejad have been the biggest culprits. Kreider’s never been known for his defense. On the other hand, Zibanejad was considered a good all-around center. His defensive play has declined this season.

Things continued to unravel in the second period. With Kreider in the locker room, Will Cuylle was on during a four-on-four. After he missed the net with a shot, he went for a quick line change. The problem was that the wide carom trapped both a pinching K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere. Draisaitl retrieved the puck and flew past both into open space to create a two-on-one with Connor McDavid. With only Jacob Trouba back, Draisaitl and McDavid worked a give and go to perfection. Draisaitl passed across for McDavid, who moved the puck over for an easy tip-in that made it 3-0.

It got even worse when Evan Bouchard was left in the slot to snipe a rocket past Quick that extended the Oilers’ lead to 4-0 just over three minutes later. Facing forecheck pressure in the corner, Trouba made an errant pass that went past Trocheck. That allowed Janmark to keep the puck in at the blue line. He then moved it up for Adam Henrique, who tipped it back to Janmark. With the Rangers scrambling, Janmark found Bouchard in front for a wrist shot that beat Quick top shelf.

Over three minutes later, Panarin would get one back. On a good play from Fox, where he drew the Oilers’ defense, he then got the puck over for Panarin, whose wrist shot eluded Stuart Skinner through the wickets to make it 4-1 with 4:58 remaining. After he allowed the bad goal, Skinner came up with a couple of crucial saves to prevent a Rangers’ rally.

After giving up a rebound on a Smith deflection, he got across to rob Kreider. The Rangers picked up their play late in the period. They hung around and tried to make it competitive.

At the start of the third, Lafreniere had the best chance. But Skinner delivered another big stop to keep the Oilers in front by three. He quietly finished with 32 saves. After being outshot 21-9 in the opening 20 minutes, the Rangers held a 25-19 edge in shots the final two periods.

Similar to the game in Calgary, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette shortened up his bench. He double shifted Panarin with Kaapo Kakko and Cuylle. Kakko again shifted over to center. It didn’t produce anymore offense.

Instead, another defensive breakdown led to McDavid getting the first of a pair. With the Oilers top line coming in with speed, Kaspari Kapanen went around the net and made a pass back up top for Bouchard. With Schneider puck watching, Bouchard made a diagonal feed down low for a McDavid tip-in that Quick had no chance on.

It was another poor defensive sequence. Had he been in a better position, Zibanejad could have broken up Bouchard’s pass. Instead, it was right on the money for McDavid, who’s on a heater. He might’ve missed some time. But he’s coming for the scoring title. No more was that apparent than on his next goal.

A Smith turnover resulted in McDavid picking up a loose puck from teammate Troy Stecher and taking off like a jet. With Mancini back defending, he went down to prevent the pass across to Ryan-Nugent Hopkins. The trouble was he was going up against the best player in the sport. McDavid wisely pulled up as if it were NHL ’94 and waited for Quick to go down before beating him for his second consecutive goal to make it 6-1.

In his return, Mancini struggled. With Zac Jones out with an injury, Mancini was recalled from the Wolf Pack. It probably wasn’t the brightest idea to have him fly across the continent to face the Oilers. He’d be better served staying in Hartford and continuing to develop.

Will they ever consider giving Matthew Robertson a chance? He’s only from Edmonton. He’s a 2019 second round pick. Robertson has never played an NHL game. He’s been in the AHL long enough. What are they afraid of? Why continue to waste him? Robertson is off to a good start with the Wolf Pack. It’s time to find out if he can play. That’s what this organization is known for.

With the game over, Panarin scored a goal in garbage time. Lafreniere made a good play to set it up. He retrieved a puck in the offensive zone and made a subtle backhand feed that Panarin got all of to blast it past Skinner to make it 6-2 with 3:31 left in regulation.

Panarin leads the Rangers with 12 goals. He’s always going to score because of how talented he is. Even with Trocheck playing inconsistent hockey, Panarin continues to produce. The offense is basically him and Lafreniere along with Cuylle and Kakko. Hopefully, Filip Chytil can return to the lineup soon. What was the purpose of having him fly out to Alberta if he wasn’t going to play? The next opportunity comes Monday night at home against the Blues.

From a defensive standpoint, this team is a mess. Don’t let the record fool you. They are only 12-6-1 because of the play they’ve gotten from Shesterkin and Quick. As Steve Valiquette pointed out during the postgame, they’ve combined for four stolen wins. Honestly, it feels like more. It isn’t like this team limits opponents from getting shots and creating scoring chances.

They don’t defend. The defensemen are too slow. I have no clue what Laviolette’s thinking by continuing to play Trouba with Ryan Lindgren. They’re the two slowest skating defensemen on the roster. Even if the metrics indicated that they weren’t bad, the eye test tells us a different thing entirely. Just because they’re on for goals the team scores doesn’t mean they should play together. It’s insane.

It doesn’t help that Miller has regressed. He gets caught pinching too much and is frequently out of position. It’s nice that he finally found some offense on the four-game road trip. But a goal and three assists isn’t enough to justify whatever he’ll command next summer. His defense remains inconsistent. It leaves a lot to be desired.

Clearly, the Rangers missed the speed and skating Jones brings. He’s their fastest skating defenseman. Facing Edmonton without him didn’t help. They can’t afford to have him out too long. The Thanksgiving break can get Jones some extra time off before the Black Friday special against the Flyers. That’s assuming he isn’t available either tomorrow or on Turkey Eve at the Hurricanes.

With the team having so many issues, no game is easy. They aren’t a fun watch right now. Unless some of those key veterans remember how to play, it could get worse before it gets better.