LUCIC LOOKS LIKE HIS OLD SELF AGAIN
Not much went right in Oilers opener, but rugged winger scored and got physical
If the Edmonton Oilers laid a collective egg as they scrambled most of the night against the New Jersey Devils, the muchmaligned Milan Lucic came out of it sunny side up.
The season opener in Sweden might have been Lucic’s best game since before last Christmas.
He looked like his old dominating self by banging people around and hanging around the net. And if he hasn’t had a hands transplant since last season, when he had one goal in January, February, March and April, at the least those hands look softer. Maybe not Connor McDavid soft, but when the puck has been on his stick from the first exhibition game to now, he seems to know what to do with it.
He easily put away his last two feeds from McDavid, in Cologne, Germany, and Gothenburg, Sweden.
No fumbling, no looking to the heavens for help.
“He was physical, he was making plays, he scored, he set up a nice goal,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan, who saw a guy skating hard and with purpose.
“If we’re evaluating individuals, he would get a pretty good check mark from the group.
“There weren’t many positives, but Milan was one of them.”
While the Oilers have to find a way to navigate through a treacherous October and try to get out of it at .500, with two games against Boston and Nashville and singles against Washington, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg, nobody needs to contribute more than Lucic.
If he could get four or five goals in the first month, maybe we’ll be seeing a 20-goal guy again. Not last year’s 10.
“The loss is what you take out of every game,” said Lucic. “But personally, it was nice to snap that one in (with a 10-footer on
Maybe it was the excitement of it or nervousness to get the season started. But we tried to do too much and didn’t have our heads on straight.
the power play). You get chances in those areas and you want to snap them home. Hopefully I keep that going.
“From a personal standpoint, I thought I was involved by moving my feet and making good plays with the puck,” said Lucic, who wasn’t doing that for the last half of last season.
“Yeah, it was frustration. I was my own worst enemy with my mindset, I was hesitating. I wasn’t thinking I was going to score when I had those chances ... that’s the difference between scoring and missing.”
All of Lucic’s goals in the preseason and regular season have come from in close.
“Be nice to get one five-on-five, all three of my goals (exhibition and league) have come on the power play. I’ve been doing it in practice, just letting the shots go, not worrying about my hands,” he said.
Lucic didn’t dance around the obvious in Sweden. The Devils were faster, smarter and hungrier. They made the Oilers look like bystanders after the first period when it was tied 1-1.
“We weren’t moving our feet, especially in the second period when we were standing still, trying to make plays,” said Lucic.
“Sometimes you need a hard realization what regular-season NHL hockey is.
“We’ve got five days to get better (for when they face the Bruins on Thursday night) … you see around the league how it can turn around. Boston lost 7-0 one night (against the Washington Capitals) and bounced back the next game.”
Defensively, the Oilers were graded with a well-deserved F. New Jersey stole pucks, passed sharply and made the Oilers look bad. It was almost like they were in shock over how well the Devils were playing and how overwhelmed they were.
“I don’t know what to say. Maybe it was the excitement of it or nervousness to get the season started. But we tried to do too much and didn’t have our heads on straight,” said Lucic.
“Maybe we have to dial it back a little mentally.”