Oilers counting on victory to be a springboard

DENVER — There were 18 points up for grabs way back when the Oilers checked out of Edmonton for a franchise-high nine-game road trip. At best they wanted to pocket nine, figuring a .500 road trip would be a fair accomplishment.

But on their way to their final game, they lost their swagger, were shut out in back-toback outings, and were unable to stay out of last place in the Western Conference. They also filed into a players meeting before they took two points from the Blackhawks, the top team in the Western Conference, in Chicago on Sunday.

By their count, they now figure if they can defeat the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, they’re almost be right back to where they started.

The Oilers also haven’t been able to register back-to-back-wins since Jan. 28-30 when they beat the Avalanche and the Phoenix Coyotes, so their 6-5 victory over the Blackhawks could also be nothing more than a one-off victory.

“You have to star t somewhere,” said captain Shawn Horcoff, who returned to the lineup for the Chicago game and was a difference maker. “Man, the morale and the mental situation was really getting low over the last three games.”

“We did a good job of turning that around (in Chicago). It would be nice to use that as a bit of a springboard,” Horcoff said.

Now 9-11-5 and five points back of the Western Conference playoff cut-off line, the Oilers will return to Edmonton with 14 of their remaining 22 games on home ice.

First, they need to get past the Avalanche, who have won five in a row at home and are 8-2-1 in Denver, 10-10-4 overall.

“We wanted to come on this trip and get nine points. We have six now, so if we win in Colorado, despite all the doom and gloom (earlier this week), we’re not out of it,” Horcoff said. “We’ll have 22 games left after that, the majority at home, but then we’ll be back in striking distance. We’re not out of this. We just have to believe.

“There is enough experience of being in a situation where we know if we have a bad week or two here, we’ll be in trouble going down the stretch. Guys don’t want to be in that situation. We want to play meaningful games with a month to go. That’s our goal right now.”

What the Oilers did take out of Chicago, aside from their first win since Feb. 28, was a shot of confidence. After they were thumped to the embarrassing combined tally of 9-0 by the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators, Horcoff and his assistants called a meeting.

The message looked like it got through. Against Chicago, the Oilers got off to a strong start against a team that was flat in the first period, then held off the Blackhawks comeback attempt, handing the hosts their first regulation loss on home ice this season.

Taylor Hall scored his first power-play goal of the season, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up two assists, but still has only one goal on the season, and there were enough defensive miscues to turn a 4-0 lead into a 6-5 nail-biter.

Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk also left the game with a stinger he suffered in the second period, although he did skate on Monday and is expected be back on Tuesday.

“At this point in the road trip, to have the first regulation-season win here in Chicago is something we take out of this game, but some lessons again,” head coach Ralph Krueger said.

“We gave up some goals that aren’t acceptable. We did lose some of our checks.”