LATE-SEASON SPOILERS
Familiar role once again
You can’t spell spoiler without Oiler.
For 11 of the last 12 seasons, that has been the unofficial and unfortunate storyline here.
Stretch drives in Edmonton are not spent chasing dreams, but rather attempting to smash the dreams of everyone else.
And that’s the case again now as the Oilers, having long since fallen out of the NHL playoff race, search for reasons to get excited over the final 14 games of the season.
They’ll have one Tuesday in Calgary, where they can do serious damage to the Flames’ postseason bid.
The Flames are still alive, but a wild-card spot is slowly slipping out of reach. Can the Oilers find a little joy in pushing them a little further away from the life preserver?
“I think we should,” said Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson.
“It’s a Battle of Alberta. There is a lot of pride from the fans and the players. It’s something we always think about.
“If we can make them miss the playoffs, great, but we’re focusing on our own game.”
That seems to be the mantra these days as the Oilers, winners of three straight games and six of their last nine, would rather make this about playing well themselves than ruining it for somebody else (even though that part of it would be kind of satisfying when it comes to some of their most bitter rivals).
Head coach Todd McLellan isn’t one who thinks any team should celebrate being a spoiler for the simple reason it represents failure on your own part.
“When you embrace the spoiler role, it means that you’ve spoiled your own season is how I see it,” said McLellan, who wants his team to still be excited about winning without losing sight of the fact they should have been doing this a long time ago.
“The motivation behind that is great; keep pushing and play hard and ruin it for somebody else, but when you get to that (spoiler) spot, you haven’t done enough to make it a happy place for your own team.
“For me, that’s the spoiler role; we’ve spoiled our own season.”
They say this needs to be more about showing they are still a decent team and not the frustrating mess that somehow sunk to 13th place in the West.
“We want to finish strong,” said Larsson. “You want to finish strong personally, you want to finish strong as a team.
“People forget sometimes how young this team still is. Obviously, we have some top guys, but they ’re still in their early 20s. They have things to learn, too. We do that as a group moving forward.
“We’re still a young group that is trying to develop every practice and every game. We’ll have some bumps, but looking at the end and to next season, we have to build as a group.”
That’s what the coach has been seeing so far. The Oilers have turned in some pretty solid games over the last week and the mood in the room remains as upbeat as it can be when a season falls apart with two months to go. The commitment and the energy haven’t taken appreciable dips at all.
“What we’ll look for is a fall-off in those areas,” said McLellan.
“The first indication of it sliding is usually practice. I’ve liked our practices lately. The leaders have worked hard, they’re trying to get better. They’re trying to move the needle in a positive direction.
“It’s hard to be at your best every night regardless of being in first place or trailing, but you have to try to bring that every night. We’ve got 14 games left and we expect good performances in all of them. I expect effort and professionalism.”
The Oilers have had Calgary’s number for two years now, going 3-0 against the Flames this season and 4-0 last year.
“The rivalry gets both teams up,” said McLellan, who thinks there will be an emotionally charged atmosphere in Calgary.
“It’s an exciting time to be playing, especially against your rival. We’ve had some breaks, we’ve had some good goaltending … there’s really no pattern to our success against them, every game has been different. Every game has taken on its own personality. We hope it continues Tuesday.”
When you embrace the spoiler role, it means that you’ve spoiled your own season ... you haven’t done enough to make it a happy place for your own team.