"What I saw in that game on Saturday (was) a lot of fatigue, errors and stuff we hadn't been seeing," he said. "Fourth game in six nights, and it's not an excuse because we're not in the business of making excuses, but I saw some things that I felt we had cleaned up but obviously, we didn't.
"In the end, we scored five goals. That's more than enough to win most games. But sometimes, it's not about what you get and it's about what you give up."
Connor McDavid added that the Oilers could've done a lot more to help their netminder Jack Campbell, who surrendered six goals on 38 shots and was the victim of three deflections.
"I think as forwards we can be in lanes better," McDavid said. "They scored a couple of point-shot goals and we could've helped Soup out that way. I just think as a whole, our details and little box outs in front (can improve). They scored a couple of tip goals and stuff like that, and myself included, we need to do better there."
The Oilers are 2-2-0 so far on their tough seven-game stretch that continues tonight before a rematch against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. It's a modest return of four points in eight games, but what Woodcroft has liked is how his team has been within reach of the two points in every game with a competitive effort.
"I thought we had a chance to win every game," he said. "I think there are areas of improvement that we're going to address here as we move down the stretch. I like our team. I like our competitive spirit. We're never out of any game, but there are things that have to be addressed if we want to take the next step."
McDavid added: "Two-and-two two is nothing to write home about. With that being said though, we've beat two good teams and I thought we played well against Boston. But again, this is a similar type of week. Buffalo is playing really well. They're in a race themselves, so this will be a big game for them.
"It's a big game for us and then we go over to Boston and Toronto all over again. So another big week for us and starts tonight."
