Maroon keeping his hands busy
Oilers picking spots between goals, fighting
EDMONTON • Wanna go? As difficult as it might be sometimes, Patrick Maroon may have to start saying no.
Not always — he wouldn’t be Patrick Maroon i f he didn’t punch the odd face now and then — but with 25 goals this season, he has certainly earned the right to dictate the time and place.
The 6- foot- 3, 230- pound winger has become an integral part of Edmonton’s game, tied for the team lead in goals with Connor McDavid and first in fights with nine. He is one of the driving forces behind the bigger, tougher, new- look Edmonton Oilers.
So it’s no wonder getting him off the ice, tiring him out a little, has become a recurring opposition strategy.
Look no further than the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings, who went out of their way to get Maroon off the ice in recent games.
The Bruins were all over him on Thursday night after he scored at 4: 29 and 5: 28 of the first period to give Edmonton a quick 2- 0 lead.
Maroon turned down two fights before finally obliging late in the first period. That was a tough one to avoid because Bruins defenceman Adam McQuaid hit him from behind and needed a slap, but it’s obvious what the Bruins — and Jarome Iginla two games later — were trying to do.
The Oilers were up 2- 0 on the Kings on Monday and once again, Maroon scored an early goal ( 1: 04) and was playing like a wrecking ball with hands. That’s when Iginla came calling.
“I play a hard game, I’m an honest player,” said Maroon, who had to get a cut on his nose patched up after the long and spirited tilt with the tough- as- nails veteran. “He asked me to go, so I gave him a shot.”
Maroon knew what Iginla was trying to do and hopes t hat what goes around, comes around, that when the Oilers are trailing and need a momentum boost, somebody on the other team with drop the gloves with him.
“I think guys will respect that,” he said. “If I need a fight and I go out and ask a guy, I think guys will give that to me. I just have to keep playing the way I’m playing, play hard.”
Maroon, who has four goals and two fights in the last four games, admits he needs to be more selective when it comes to opponents and situations.
“I’ve got to pick my spots,” he said. “I’ve got to pick the right opportunity. Maybe ( Monday) wasn’t the best spot, but he wanted one, so I gave him one.
“For me, I look at it that it could go both ways. It could give them momentum or it could give us momentum. It didn’t really make or break any team.
“I probably have to slow down a little bit, my hands are starting to hurt. Maybe hold off until April.”
It sounds a little presumptuous to say he shouldn’t be soiling his hands anymore, given that Maroon established himself as a tough, scrappy winger ( 29 fights over the previous three seasons) long before he discovered there is a potential 30- goal man in there somewhere.
He plays a hard game in the dirty areas and, like the goals, that’s where the fights are, too. But it’s a fine line: he needs to keep being who he is, creating that intensity and aggression that make the Oilers what they are, but should a guy who’s only three goals behind Alex Ovechkin on the league scoring list be 10th in the NHL in fighting majors?
Head coach Todd McLellan needs Maroon on the ice a lot more than he needs him in the penalty box, but he doesn’t want to put any of his big dogs on a leash.
“Patty plays better when somebody’s mad at him, and not the coach, somebody on the other team,” said McLellan. “I’ve used that with him a few times. When he kind of goes into a bit of a funk, I ask him who’s mad at him on the other team.
“That’s part of his game, the fabric of who he is. He has to maintain that.”