OILERS EDGE KINGS 3-2
Another tight one in Hitchcock era
In the last home game of the second month of the season, the Edmonton Oilers finally did it. They won a second straight home game for the first time this season.
Let the bells ring out and the banners fly. Feast your eyes on it. It’s too good to be true, but the Oilers finally doubled down with double Ws in their own barn.
Credit the coach. Ken Hitchcock is now 2-0 returning from retirement in his old hometown.
Certainly credit Mikko Koskinen.
The 6-foot-7 Finnish goalie was both good and lucky (having a real stinker of a goal disallowed on an offside following video review.)
Koskinen has started four games at home, including the last two, and won all four with a 0.83 goals-against average in the first three and a .973 save percentage.
In Thursday night’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, he stopped 30 of 32 shots.
Absolutely credit Oscar Klefbom.
The Swedish defenceman hadn’t scored a goal all year but scored the winner in both of them, Thursday night’s coming with 2:20 remaining in regulation time.
In the NHL, you have to win at home.
Not every second night. Damn near every night. There’s been nothing wrong with the way the Edmonton Oilers have played on the road this season, especially with the mileage and degree of difficulty involved with their opponents in the first six weeks.
It’s at home where they’ve have failed to be the team they have to be if they’re going to return to the playoffs this year.
The Oilers opened their home schedule with Leon Draisaitl scoring 37 seconds into overtime against the Boston Bruins. Lost to Nashville.
Lost to Pittsburgh.
Then Edmonton defeated the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals 4-1.
Went on the road and won on back-to-back nights in Nashville and Chicago.
Came home. Lost to Minnesota.
The Oilers opened November at home with a 4-0 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Came back from a four-game road trip. Lost to Colorado.
Then they won a fun one over the Montreal Canadiens by a 6-2 count.
Went down to Calgary. Lost. Came home to play Vegas. Lost. Todd McLellan was fired. They were 4-4-1 at home. Tuesday, the Oilers, returning from a 1-1-1 trip to California, had to score two overtime winners thanks to a botched video review to put up a 1-0 victory against Dallas.
Finally they followed a win with a win.
The Western Conference teams that went into Thursday night’s game in a playoff position boasted home records of 9-4-0, 6-2-2, 8-3-2, 7-3-2, 8-3-1, 8-3-2, 7-3-5 and 8-3-2.
Pittsburgh was an excellent example last year. They had a losing record on the road at 17-20-4, but nobody noticed. The Penguins were 30-9-2 at home.
The Stanley Cup champions were 28-11-2 at home. Runner-up Vegas was 29-10-2 in the Golden Knights’ first year playing in that wonderful environment in T-Mobile Arena.
Look at the other playoff teams and their home records last year.
In the West, there was Nashville (28-9-4), Winnipeg (32-7-2), Minnesota (27-6-8), Anaheim (26-10-5), San Jose (25-13-3), Los Angeles (23-15-3) and Colorado (28-11-2).
In the East, you had Tampa Bay (29-10-2), Boston (28-8-5), Toronto (29-10-2), Philadelphia (22-13-6), Columbus (26-12-3) and New Jersey (23-14-2).
The Oilers were just one game over .500 at home last year (19-18-4) and finished well up the track.
In their 103-point season the year before, the Oilers were 25-12-4 in their first year in Rogers Place.
You get the idea. It has to happen at home.