Gadzic slugs his way to some respect
Oilers’ tough guy earning reputation with his fists
Over the last several weeks his minutes had been starting to increase at a rate that fuelled Luke Gazdic’s resolve to curtail his time on the bench.
Eight minutes against the Nashville Predators, seven against the St. Louis Blues, just over five against the Carolina Hurricanes.
But against the Buffalo Sabres, in a game pockmarked with penalties, he spent 2:41 on the ice and five minutes in the penalty box after an early first period scrap with Zenon Konopka.
“It’s tough for a guy like me to get into the rhythm of the game,” said the rookie who played just six shifts. “It takes a toll, more mentally than physically, to stay engaged for a full 60 minutes but that’s the job I signed up for and I’m just going to try and do whatever I can with the ice time I get.”
Gazdic’s scrap with Konopka was his 14th of the season and his first since he dropped Kevin Westgarth to the ice in a March 1 tilt against the Calgary Flames. Westgarth, who collapsed after a punishing punch, was left with a concussion but did return to the lineup less than two weeks later.
Both should be in the lineup Saturday when the Oilers attempt to erase the sting of Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the Sabres with a different outcome against the Flames. It will be the final game of the season series between the provincial foes.
“I was a little taken aback with how fast he came back but it’s good he’s back on the ice,” Gazdic continued.
“Obviously you don’t like to see guys out for too long with something like that, but that’s the breaks with fighting. You can go down anytime.”
Westgarth said a few days after the fight that he watched the replay and the big takeaway was that he had made a mistake that cost him. “I guess everybody’s number comes up at some point,” he told Scott Cruickshank of the Calgary Herald. “Part of the job, part of the game. It was pretty ugly, but I got out of it relatively unscathed in the big picture of things. I don’t plan on making a routine out of it by any stretch.
“I made a mistake and he made me pay for it.”
Gazdic has no idea if he’s going to be challenged again Saturday but he does know that his reputation is starting to precede him. The fights aren’t as frequent, because there aren’t as many willing opponents, which has afforded Gazdic more time to work on the rest of his game.
He’s even been hounding head coach Dallas Eakins to let him kill penalties, just so he can get on the ice more often.
“It will be harder for me to find one now and again, especially with the middle to light heavyweight guys, but I do think that’s a positive,” he said. “It means I’ve been getting some respect around the league. It means I’ll have a little more room out there to play and that my teammates will have a little more room.
“I can focus more on playing the game. I’ve been trying to get that reputation, ever since I got here: that I can be a guy who can do both, and my minutes have gone up, with the exception of last night.”
Gazdic has been culling what information he can from veteran Ryan Smyth, who has spent time on the same line as the rookie with the wicked right, and recently, he’s been bending the ear of Steve MacIntyre.
With a number of injuries in the forward ranks, MacIntyre was reeled up from the Oklahoma City Barons as an emergency recall. He didn’t play against the Sabres and likely won’t play against the Flames if Jordan Eberle is back in the lineup. What he has been doing is sharing what information he can with Gazdic.
“I have a lot of tools at my disposal so I’m trying to use everybody,” said Gazdic, who was sporting a noticeable bruise under his left eye. He hadn’t yet gone over the video to see what may have caused the damage. “I think I popped a blood vessel or something. I don’t know if he caught me or what … but it’s good. It’s a good conversation starter.”