LOST OPPORTUNITY COULD SINK OILERS — EVEN IF THEY WIN
First-round series will have to go the limit for banged up Edmonton team to move on
There's only one way to get Stanley Cup playoff experience. But there has to be a better way than this.
If the Edmonton Oilers end up completely gagging on this NHL first-round series it won't go down as quite the second coming of the Miracle on Manchester (1982) that turned out to be a pivotal experience that set up a five-stanley Cup run in Edmonton.
You need to finish 48 points ahead of the opposition and have a 5-0 lead going into the third period and have the Oilers player booing the Los Angeles Kings from the bench to duplicate that monster/monstrous moment in hockey history 40 years ago.
After losing Game 5 at home 5-4 in overtime Tuesday, if the Oilers don't show up in L.A. for Game 6 on Thursday, or win and head back to Rogers Place for Game 7 only to lose, they won't likely wear a “weak-kneed wimps” tag like that team from 1982. This L.A. team finished only five points back of the Oilers. But going forward now as a team facing elimination, Edmonton would be worthy of returning next season under some sort of title. (Nominations are now being accepted just in case.)
When you win Game 2 by a score of 6-0 and win Game 3 by a count of 8-2 and fail to show up to start either of the next two games, it says something about the mental makeup of a group.
It's like you announced that you thought you had the series won.
For the record, I believe the leadership group on this Edmonton team will be smart enough to figure out it will be a lot easier to win the next two games than go through 82 next season to go through this same test again.
I still believe this group will get it done.
As the Oilers head into Game 6, I'm taking the view that their first-round series will end up as a microcosm of their snakes and ladders regular season.
First, they went 9-1 and 16-5 for openers. Then they hit the skids with a 2-11-2 run that dropped them from first overall to 20th. Then they got it together and were the third-best team coming home.
Anybody who watched Game 2 and 3 and that remarkable final 10-minute push in the third period Tuesday to get to overtime led by Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl has to believe that if the Oilers play 60 minutes in the next two games, they will advance to the division final.
But now, like when they went 2-11-2 in December, Oilers fans and certainly this columnist are back in that “What the hell happened?” state of disbelief.
With the Oilers back in L.A. for a Game 6 that didn't have to be, this is where “next game” and “big picture” meet.
The Oilers, I believe, needed to have more “big picture” on their plate in these playoffs.
Our Hockey Hall of Famer (2000 Elmer Ferguson Award winner) Jim Matheson recently recalled the message former coach John Muckler used to preach: “The way you win Stanley Cup playoff series is to kill a team's will. When you succeed at that, the series is over.”
Obviously the way the Oilers played Game 4 in Los Angeles, they thought they'd done that by outscoring L.A. 14-2 in back-toback games. That's not how it works.
You have to reinforce that right from the start of the following game. The Oilers didn't show up for it, much less bring that intense game involving physical play and winning battles all over the ice and playing most of the game in the offensive zone. Didn't happen.
Having a terrible Game 4 in Los Angeles took away the opportunity for Edmonton to make this series end early against a team with 11 players making their Stanley Cup debuts.
Instead of being in Los Angeles facing elimination now, the Oilers, if they'd bothered to show up for Game 4, could be sitting back today watching the Dallas-calgary series, resting and recharging like the Colorado Avalanche, who swept their firstround series against the Nashville Predators.
But coming back home and losing Game 5 in Edmonton took away the get-some-rest opportunity and get healthy for Round 2.
Considering the environment their fans provide in Rogers Place, the Oilers didn't harness it to supply the emotional wave to take the game to the Kings early.
The Oilers hardly had anybody show up for the start. They were outshot 16-5 in the first period. A team that had everybody going three games into the series suddenly had more passengers than participants at game time.
Even if they do bounce back and win the series, this Edmonton team would be headed to the second round with less confidence and next to no chance to rest and recover.
Yes, they'd have gained some invaluable Stanley Cup playoff experience. But …