Oilers find heart after dropping three to Leafs

Mcdavid and company are back in the race for first place in competitive North Division

It was the day after the Toronto Maple Leafs had blanked Connor Mcdavid for a third straight loss earlier this month that I received a one-sentence email from a concerned observer.

“Did Mcdavid lose the Hart this week?”

Talk about an overreaction. And yet, that's how one-sided the series between Toronto and Edmonton ended up looking.

The Oilers and Leafs were the two best teams in Canada, and Mcdavid and Auston Matthews were the two best players in the world. Heading into the threegame series, we were expecting fireworks. We were promised a back-and-forth battle.

Instead, we got a spanking heard across the country.

Toronto didn't just beat Edmonton for three straight games. They embarrassed them. The Leafs won 4-0 with their backup goalie in net. Two nights later, the Leafs won 3-0 with their third-stringer in net. Then, with Toronto's No. 1 goalie back in the crease, it was 6-1.

The 12-point swing in the standings vaulted the Leafs to the top of the NHL'S power rankings, where even Tampa Bay's head coach seemed impressed.

“Am I aware that the Leafs shut the Oilers out? I am,” Jon Cooper said at the time. “Am I aware that Mcdavid and (Leon) Draisaitl didn't get points in those games? I am.”

As for the Oilers, it was a different kind of awareness. With a three-game snap of the fingers, Edmonton's championship hopes seemingly turned to dust. And Mcdavid's grip on the Hart Trophy seemed to be slipping, as well.

It wasn't just that he and Draisaitl had been held without a point, or that the losses had dropped the team to third place in the standings. It was that the Oilers had been exposed for what critics had been calling them for years: a two-man team that can't defend, that can't grind, and can't hang with the best.

A year ago, this might have set the Oilers into a tailspin resulting in them crashing and burning out of a playoff spot. Instead, since dropping those three games, Edmonton has gone on a 7-2-0 run with Mcdavid picking up seven goals and 20 points in that nine-game span.

And they have Toronto, which has gone 2-6-0 since playing Edmonton, to thank for it.

It took getting embarrassed by the Leafs for the Oilers to take a hard look in the mirror to see where they were vulnerable, to see what they were doing wrong, and to correct the issues. Looking back, it might have been the best thing to happen to them.

“Sure, you can go back to those Toronto games, there are things that you learn about your team, there are different ways games go, and every team has a little dip,” said head coach Dave Tippett.

The difference with Edmonton's “dips” this year is that they don't last long. Only once has the team lost three consecutive games. And they followed it up with four wins. When they lost two in a row last week, they rebounded with three more wins.

There's a sense of urgency to the team that was missing before. The Oilers aren't just hoping to be in the playoffs. They expect it.

The team that was left for dead three weeks ago could have taken over sole possession of top spot in the North Division on Monday, but their game in Montreal was postponed.

So what's different? What did the Oilers learn?

Well, they learned that it's OK to rely on Mcdavid and Draisaitl to fill the net. But it can't be just offence all the time. The Oilers tried to play run-and-gun with the Leafs. When the game was slowed down, Edmonton looked lost.

That's what the Oilers are now trying to do to other teams.

Edmonton has outscored opponents 36-19 over the past nine games. But only two were blowout wins. Only twice did they allow three or more goals. Only eight teams have allowed fewer shots per game this month.

The Oilers and Leafs play each other on Saturday and next Monday. The Hart Trophy will once again be on the line.