Schedule opens door for Oilers’ rebound
There’s a chance to make up lost ground with games against western rivals
The standings are against them. Time is against them. The odds are against them. Luck is against them. At times, even home-ice advantage seemed to be against them.
But the schedule is totally on their side.
If the Edmonton Oilers somehow manage to fight their way back into a playoff spot this season, it will come with a giant assist from whoever made up their schedule.
Thanks to the NHL’s system of front-loading the season with inter-conference play, the Oilers suffered through most of their misery against teams from the East (7-11-2). It put them in a terrible hole, but it also gives them an opportunity to control their own destiny when their attention shifts to the West and they’re face to face with the teams they’re chasing.
“I think we’re in a stretch now where we’re playing 14 of 15 games against the Western Conference,” said goalie Cam Talbot.
“These are the games we need to win to move up if we’re going to make any kind of push. We put ourselves in a bit of a hole but now we’re looking to climb out of it and these are the games you need to do it in.”
It also helps their situation that through all of their pains and all that has gone wrong for the them this season, they have sustained virtually no damage in their own division. They’ve lost just one head-to-head game against a team in the Pacific Division.
And now, just as the Oilers are getting healthier and stronger, here comes the steady diet of Western Conference games.
“Later in the year, we’ll play them a lot,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “That’s a good thing for us because we’re playing a lot better and head- ing in the right direction. That should give us confidence heading into the stretch.”
They started Thursday seven points back of Calgary for the third place in the Pacific Division. They get Calgary head-to-head three more times. They get L.A. four times, Anaheim four times, Vegas three times, Minnesota four times.
That bodes well for an Oilers team that matches up very well against Western Conference teams, in part because the team was built for the bigger, tougher games out here.
Not only do they think they can close the gap on eighth, they think they will.
“I don’t think hope is the right word,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse. “We have a lot of belief, not hope. We have a lot of belief in this room.”
BACK IN THE GROOVE
Talbot was again one of the best Oilers Thursday night as the St. Louis Blues roared out of the gate with half a dozen five-star chances. He kept it scoreless through 20 minutes despite facing a shorthanded breakaway, a point-blank shot from Paul Stastny and a bullet from between the hash marks 17 seconds after the opening face off.
He came into the game with a 5-0 record in his last five starts and seems to have his game in a much better place than it was in the first month of the season.
“You can say whatever you want but even at the start of the year I thought he was good,” said defenceman Adam Larsson. “We were just giving up too many chances. As a goalie, you are going to eventually break down when that happens. If we give up 18 Grade A chances in a game, he’s not going to save them all.
“He’s been steady all year, it’s just that we have played a lot, lot better in front of him.”
Head coach Todd McLellan said getting time off to get healthy has also made a big difference.
“Health in that position is important,” he said, adding it’s not easy to be a your best when you are playing hurt.
“We were in the in the same situation with Oscar Klefbom. People don’t understand how banged up some of these players are when they play.
“They get evaluated based on being 100 per cent healthy, but very seldom do they play at 100 per cent.”
CATCHING BREAKS
After getting the San Jose Sharks without Logan Couture in the lineup, the Oilers caught St. Louis without Jaden Schwartz (ankle). His absence has left a big hole for the Blues, who scored one evenstrength goal in their last five games without him.
“He’s a lot like Logan couture is for San Jose,” said McLellan. “He drives that team. He’s relentless, he has a work ethic that pulls everybody along.
“Any time you lose that type of player it affects your team, not just individually stats wise, but the ability to pull everyone along. He’s that type of player, he gets things done for them.”