Sense of urgency permeates Oilers’ camp amid early woes
The Edmonton Oilers have about two weeks left to save their season.
Another 10-game stretch like the one they just came out of and any post-season hopes they might have had will be on life support by American Thanksgiving.
But put together a decent run and they’ll be right back in the mix, and that 3-6-1 October will be nothing but a learning experience.
Just like last year’s bad November wiped out a good October, this year’s November can undo much of the damage from the first month of the season.
“Last year, we started 7-1 and then we went 2-7-1 in our next 10 games,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “We’re having that 2-7-1 segment (out of the gate).”
Now all they need is the 7-1 part, which McLellan says is entirely doable with the people they have in place.
“We have the tools, we have the necessary pieces to play better hockey,” he said. “But other than opening night, we haven’t been able to put 18 players together who are playing close to their ‘A’ game.
“We find a few and a few fall off. That’s usually an indicator of an average or below-average record.”
No one wants to be talking about must-win situations and playoff implications after 10 games, but between parity and three-point games, giving a handful of teams a five- or six-point head start on the final playoff spot is a dangerous play. Spotting them much more than that is fatal.
The Oilers, as much as they talk about remaining calm, understand the urgency of their situation.
“I believe they do,” said McLellan. “They know where we are. They also know that we have a road ahead of us that we can climb.
“The sense of urgency showed up in practice, we made sure of that, especially in the power-play area which we spent a lot of time on. I do sense that they get it.”
Forward Leon Draisaitl says they are already looking at the standings and doing some math drills in their heads.
“We need to start banking points,” he said. “This league is too good to just let a month slip by. It’s hard to catch up, so we have to make sure we get some points here.”
That means getting better just about everywhere. Their offence is 31st, penalty-killing is 30th, the power play is 29th and their goalsagainst is 23rd.
With 16 games in 30 days in a tough and gruelling November, all of that has to change.
“As a team, we have to play better,” said defenceman Oscar Klefbom. “The power play is in the bottom, PK is in the bottom, that’s not good enough. It’s tough to win games when we’re not playing our best hockey. We have to stick together and come back.
“It’s very easy to say there’s a lot of games left, but we can’t put ourselves in a bad spot.”
POWER-PLAY CHANGES
In an effort to jump-start a stalled power play (four goals on 33 chances this season), the Oilers changed things up, putting Connor McDavid and Draisaitl on separate units.
“They both are capable of quarterbacking a power play,” said McLellan. “I think sometimes when the two of them are together, they’re dynamic, there’s no doubt about it, but they have a tendency to look for each other a lot.
“This way, they get their own units and it’s going to create a competitive environment between the two units. If one unit gets hot and keeps going, they get the ice time. That’s what we’re trying to create right now.”
Draisaitl is with Ryan NugentHopkins, Milan Lucic, Ryan Strome and Matt Benning.
McDavid is with Patrick Maroon, Drake Caggiula, Mark Letestu and Klefbom.
“Our power play hasn’t been sharp at all, it hasn’t been good,” said Draisaitl, who saw this coming. “We changed things up. A lot of times that gives the team a little spark.
“We have so many skilled players on this team, it doesn’t really matter who you’re out there with.”
What’s McLellan looking for with the changes?
“Goals,” said Draisaitl. “I guess that’s the simple answer.”