Struggling club hopes practice makes perfect
Schedule and CBA break have combined to cut coach’s teaching time with club
Not saying the Edmonton Oilers haven’t had a lot of practice time recently, but even Allen Iverson was starting to get worried.
With the offence drying up, the power play floundering and the Oilers 1-4 in their last five, head coach Todd McLellan dearly needed time to address the issues in practice, but for the last three weeks, he’s been continually overruled by the schedule.
First there were back-to-back games in California, followed by the all-star break, then a travel day to Nashville, then three games in four nights, then a four-day CBA break, then a 5 p.m. practice the evening before a game.
It amounts to not a lot of teaching time over a three-week stretch and the Oilers play seems to have suffered for it.
“The whole league is going through it,” said McLellan Monday, after being able to practise two days in a row for just the third time in nine weeks. “Some teams are handling it well and some aren’t and we’ve got to find a way to handle it well.”
So far they’re in the “aren’t” category.
The Oilers lost all the momentum they’d built in going 7-0-1 before the all-star break and don’t look at all like the same team that overpowered Calgary, Anaheim and San Jose 15-4. They’ve scored four goals in their last five games, given up 14 and haven’t scored with a man advantage since Jan. 31.
A constant mix of games, travel and holidays seems to only make matters worse.
“The schedule is so tight this season there’s not much time to work on stuff,” said centre Leon Draisaitl. “It’s nice to get a couple of days of practice and establish the work ethic that maybe we lost a little over the last couple of games.”
McLellan says the lack of practice time really hurts the bottom half of the roster — extra players or guys who don’t get a lot of ice time in games. They don’t have an avenue to work on their weaknesses and stay sharp.
“I think it’s really important,” he said. “It’s not about bringing the players here and grinding them out, it’s about helping them get better and in some cases, I think, saving some jobs.
“The guys in the minors are getting practice time all the time, they’re getting games. If we happen to lose fourth line players or extra players because they’re not getting a lot of practice time and somebody down there is, I don’t know if that helps anybody here.”
Whether these two days of practice help remains to be seen.
“For sure it helps, especially coming out of the break, we get our legs back under us,” said Connor McDavid, adding the lack of activity in general with the allstar and CBA break falling so close together has everyone out of sorts.
“Being away from the game hurts everyone’s game all around. It’s nice to get rest mentally and physically and all that but you’re sharpness kind of goes away. Passing and execution can slip when you’re not on the ice for a little bit. You definitely saw that coming out of our two breaks.”
Coming out of the all-star break the Oilers had one practice before playing four times in six days, going 1-3. This time, after a 5-1 loss to Chicago, they had a couple of days to iron things out, which they hope will make a big difference.
It has to, or all of their playoff breathing room could be gone.
“If we go 1-3 in our next four we’re going to find ourselves in a tough spot,” said McDavid. “We have to figure out a way to nip it in the bud. I think these practices have definitely set us up for this week. It was definitely a good couple of days.”
A big area of concern is the power play, which they addressed at length during Monday’s skate.
“The proof will be in the pudding Tuesday night (against Arizona),” said McLellan.
“When you’re five-on-five scoring goes dry you need your power play to perform and right now they’ve both gone dry.”
Draisaitl expects the Oilers to break out on all fronts.
“I think it’s just execution,” he said. “We have the right plans for every team, we just haven’t been sharp enough to make the plays that we need to make. The penalty killers in this league are too good, so if you’re not on your game they’re just going to destroy you.”