Edmonton Journal

Tippett defends `tight-checking game' against Leafs

- ROBERT TYCHKOWSKI Twitter.com/rob_tychkowski rtychkowsk­i@postmedia.com

Coaches spend enough time having to explain losses, so they don't like it much when they have to defend wins.

Just ask Dave Tippett. Better yet, don't.

The Edmonton Oilers coach delivered a pretty decent rant Thursday during the post-mortem of Wednesday night's 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, a contest that some have politely compared to a Proboscis monkey reading Shakespear­e — ugly and boring.

Yes, the Oilers only managed 11 shots in the first 40 minutes and scoring chances for both sides would have been about the same if they played the game without a puck. But, no, Tippett was in no mood to discuss esthetics or style points following an effort he's been waiting to see out of his team since it got knocked out of the play-in round last August.

“All I heard all summer was all you guys talking about how we couldn't defend,” said Tippett. “Now all I hear is you can't score. It was a tight checking game. There wasn't space for either team.

“It's almost funny to me how everybody talked all summer about Toronto and Edmonton having to defend better, then Toronto and Edmonton actually defend well and now they think it's a bad hockey game. It just baffles me.”

Funny, but true. In reality, trying to play both thrilling and entertaini­ng hockey while totally locking it down defensivel­y is an almost impossible line to walk.

The Oilers will have to pick a lane most nights and the one they ended up in against the Leafs is fine by Tippett.

The last thing he wants are his players reading and hearing that they need to up the entertainm­ent value.

“If we wanted to just entertain the fans, we might as well just have a shootout and call it who wins and loses,” continued Tippett. “We don't want a shootout, we want to win a hockey game. Games that are tight like that are closer to playoff style games than the 8-7 games are. I'll take 2-1 games all day as long as we're winning them.”

To the legitimate notion that the Oilers, aside from their one five-goal outburst against Vancouver, have really struggled offensivel­y, Tippett isn't listing that as a major issue yet. His first goal is to shore up their own end let the offence flow from there.

“Would we like to score more? Yeah, we'd like to score more, but the other team has a say in that, like we had a say in Toronto not scoring.

“Sometimes your offence has to win it, sometimes your defence has to win it, but if you play a strong game, you give yourself a better chance to win. That's what we did last game. The five-on-five play is something we've really pounded on from Day 1 of camp.”

Nobody inside the dressing room or outside of it thinks that low-scoring chess matches are all we're going to see this season. There is enough skill on the Oilers to break through eventually. In the meantime, and in situations where they need to win a

2-1 game, it's good to know they have it in them.

“Sometimes you have to play a boring game every once in a while to get things going again,” said winger Josh Archibald.

“We gave up a few goals early on in the season, so we wanted to shut them down offensivel­y. We wanted to shut down their skill and take their time and space away. Sometimes you have to win 1-0, 2-1 games. I thought we did a good job.”

The guys in the room are loving how they locked it down and took care of business in a playoff-style game against the team most are picking to run away with the division.

“It's a huge confidence boost,” said Archibald. “There has been a lot of talk that we haven't been able to get it done, so to finally be able to come together as a team is a growing experience. It's something to build toward.”

It's also not unusual that the Oilers seemed to sort out some of their issues in enemy territory. It's a continuati­on of last season when they had more wins on the road (20), than they had at home (17). Not having to be entertaini­ng might actually agree with them, as incongruen­t as that sounds for a team with two Art Ross and Hart Trophy winners.

“Even though there are no fans in the building, there's a bit of road mentality still,” said centre Devin Shore. “They have some incredible talent over there so you have to hunker down defensivel­y. If you play the right way, the time and space will open up offensivel­y.”

LATE HITS: James Neal, who has been out all year in COVID protocol, could be back in the lineup for Friday's rematch with the Leafs.

“He's a possibilit­y,” said Tippett. “He's been skating hard, but it was our first full team practice in 10 days and we wanted to get him through a practice. We'll see where he is in the morning and whether he can be an option for us.”

 ?? DAN HAMILTON/USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Zack Kassian and the Oilers beat Frederik Andersen and the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday, and coach Dave Tippett doesn't care how entertaini­ng it was.
DAN HAMILTON/USA TODAY SPORTS Zack Kassian and the Oilers beat Frederik Andersen and the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday, and coach Dave Tippett doesn't care how entertaini­ng it was.
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