Oilers put through tough drill after loss
Lesson learned? After a rather vapid outing against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, there was a deliberate message in the drills drawn up for the Edmonton Oilers’ next practice session.
Head coach Todd McLellan even introduced the players to a battle drill Friday that they will see again if they prove to be repeat offenders. Unhappy with their effort in the 5-2 loss to Vancouver, he emphasized the importance of competing for the puck.
Accordingly, pairs of players moved from station to station to station, battling along the boards. One player’s mission was to protect the puck; the other player attempted to take it away.
“I’ve never seen that before,” Connor McDavid said. “Definitely one of the more tiring drills I’ve done. (But) there were a number of things we needed to get better at and obviously one of them was being physically ready to go.
“Those practices are never fun but they’re definitely necessary.”
McLellan said the intent was to set the standard for the players so they know what is acceptable in terms of performance and what isn’t. There was also a longer-thanusual video session.
“I didn’t think we were at a level where we needed to be, in a lot of the confined areas,” McLellan said. “Hopefully we got our footing underneath us again and we’re ready to play properly in Vancouver.”
The Oilers wrap up their preseason schedule Saturday in Vancouver against the Canucks. The 23-man roster must be finalized by Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s amazing,” McLellan continued. “We sit in (the office) and talk about (defensive) pairs and lines and everybody has a different perspective because we really don’t know the players that well yet.” Oil spills: Defenceman Oscar Klefbom was not on the ice again on Friday and isn’t expected to play against the Canucks ... Winger Matt Hendricks, who left the ice favouring his hand after a fight with Derek Dorsett of the Canucks, was at practice.