Edmonton Journal

Oilers need to decide who they are

Oilers resemble playoff team one night, worst team in West the next

- ROBERT TYCHKOWSKI rtychkowsk­i@postmedia.com twitter.com/rob_tychkowski

When the Edmonton Oilers play a bad game, which is happening a lot lately, it almost seems like a conscious decision.

We’ve all seen the Oilers play well and win. We’ve seen them go on a couple of 8-2-1 heaters that had people believing they can still be a competitiv­e overachiev­er that makes the playoffs despite a management team that’s been cutting their legs out for years.

Everyone can see they have it in them to roll up their sleeves and play the kind of hard-working style they used to beat Minnesota 4-1 the other day.

We’ve also seen them totally abandon that style and crap out more times than we care to remember — 5-2 to San Jose, 7-4 to Carolina, 5-2 to Calgary, five third-period goals against in a 6-2 loss to Chicago.

That’s all in the last eight games.

At home.

When a team shows it can play the right way, and then two days later turns its back on a successful formula, you have to wonder why.

“I’m not sure what the difference is because it is a pretty drastic difference,” said centre Kyle Brodziak, when asked to compare the good Oilers and the bad Oilers.

“And it’s not only game to game, it’s period to period sometimes. We’re trying to find answers for why that is. It’s definitely frustratin­g when you’re trying to build off good things and you can’t seem to get any traction.”

Lost board battles and blown defensive zone coverages aren’t about the lack of skill that’s become a real problem with this roster, it’s about a lack of will. And that’s even worse.

After the Oilers got rolled over by San Jose on Saturday, head coach Ken Hitchcock said it boils down to a simple case of players taking the easy way out.

“It’s priorities,” he said. “How many times did we lose board battles in the offensive zone where we had a size advantage? And they walked right off the boards and ended up exiting the zone. That’s just determinat­ion. You’ve put the puck in a great spot, and now you’ve got to check it back. It just happens too many times.

“In the end, the players just have to reach a point where they’re just sick of it.”

Everyone else certainly is, as the Oilers teeter on the brink of missing the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 years.

Right now they are making it look like those 8-2-1 runs were unsustaina­ble flukes and the real Oilers are the guys who have lost seven of their last eight (1-5-2).

“What makes a good playoff team is the consistenc­y,” said defenceman Oscar Klefbom. “Right now we don’t have it at all. We can play a good game against a potential playoff team like Minnesota. They are smart and strong. Then we come out here and have a bad start and play a bad game against San Jose.”

It looks a mess right now, with the Oilers inching closer to the bottom of the Western Conference standings than they are to one of the wild-card spots.

It heated up Saturday night when Hitchcock suggested the coaches want it more than the players do. That will certainly resonate in the dressing room when the team returns to practice Monday. How they react and perform following that challenge

You just can’t stand here and tell the other guys what he did or what faults we made. We have to come together and play better.

will be very telling.

“I’ve been back for a few games and it is very easy to get frustrated and blame somebody else,” Klefbom said of the atmosphere. “But you have to come together as a group.

“You just can’t stand here and tell the other guys what he did or what faults we made. We have to come together and play better. We all know what we have to do and it is just a matter of execution right now.”

If they don’t decide who they’re going to be and how they’re going to play, the one silver lining they’ve been clinging to in the second half — “we’re still right in the playoff race” — will be gone.

Then it will get very dark around here.

“We’re going to keep talking about it and working on it,” said Brodziak. “But we have to find some answers, and soon.”

 ?? Ian KuceraK ?? Edmonton Oilers defenceman Kevin Gravel takes a hit from San Jose’s Barclay Goodrow during Saturday’s game at Rogers Place — yet another home loss for the wildly inconsiste­nt Oilers.
Ian KuceraK Edmonton Oilers defenceman Kevin Gravel takes a hit from San Jose’s Barclay Goodrow during Saturday’s game at Rogers Place — yet another home loss for the wildly inconsiste­nt Oilers.
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