Power outage frustration
Forty day man advantage dry spell leaves Oilers bewildered, looking for answers
RALEIGH, N.C. — Now that Stephen Hawking is no longer with us, we might never know what happened to the Edmonton Oilers’ power play.
A unit that ranked fifth in the NHL last season, one that features the best hockey player in the world and was the cornerstone of their only post-season appearance in the last 12 years, has somehow deteriorated into a jittery, fruitless, momentum-sucking black hole. Worst in the league.
It’s not a power play anymore, it’s a cry for help.
“We have good players on our team, we just have to bear down,” said a bewildered Ryan Strome. “We haven’t scored a power-play goal on the road in like a month.”
It’s actually been 40 days since that Feb. 7 goal in Los Angeles, but who’s counting?
Sunday’s zero-for-five performance in Tampa essentially cost Edmonton a chance at its second major upset in two days. They had three straight power plays in the third period, including a two-man advantage for 28 seconds, and whiffed on all of them, allowing Tampa to score the 3-1 goal in between kills.
“Last year, we were top five in the league,” sighed defenceman Oscar Klefbom, who will step away from the power play for the rest of the season to undergo shoulder surgery, well aware that it’s been a year-long anchor. “We really need to find a way to score the important goals. We have to be able to find the net. We do a lot of good things, but we have to find a way to execute.”
If Edmonton had an even half-decent power play, their world would be very different right now.
Connor McDavid would be running away with the scoring race and the Oilers would still be contention for a playoff spot.
Instead, they’ve spent the entire year in an unsuccessful bid to keep their heads above water with just their five-on-five production. Draft lottery, here we come. “You ask your players to bear down and hit the empty net or find the hole,” said head coach Todd McLellan, whose club has managed power play goals in only three of its last 20 games. “And sometimes, it’s asking them just to relax. A lot of these guys have scored 50, 60, 70 goals throughout their midget and junior careers, they’ve done it before. Some of the players on the ice are the best in the world, it’s just taking an extra second and relaxing.
“Right now, we’re squeezing the stick a little bit. We’re so desperate for a power play goal that, when we do create the opportunity, we’re not finishing it.”
Some of the issues are pretty obvious. Milan Lucic, who hasn’t registered a power-play point since Dec. 23, shouldn’t be on it until he figures things out. They also need a harder and more willing shot from the point.
And enough with the passing already. Trailing 1-0 during a two-man advantage with the goalie out in Calgary last week, Edmonton gained the zone with 90 seconds left and passed 14 the puck times before taking a shot.
Surprisingly, it didn’t work out that well.
They looked a lot better in Tampa, with a number of good chances from good spots, but nobody could finish.
“I don’t know how much more we can do on the power play without scoring a goal,” said Strome. “But in a close game like that, we have to find a way to bury it. I don’t think it’s execution, I don’t think it’s coaching or personnel, it’s just a matter of putting the puck in the net.”
McLellan is trying everything. Every Oilers forward saw time on the power play against Tampa except, of course, Jesse Puljujarvi, who’s had his reins pulled most of the season.
“It’s certainly frustrating,” said Strome.
“We draw up a game plan, we execute, we do a lot of good things, but we just can’t score. That was the difference in the game. We have to keep building on it. It’s definitely one of the things we want to keep working on heading into the end of the season.”
There is also the issue of simply not getting a lot of chances. In these last 20 games, in which they’ve been so dry, the Oilers had only 40 power plays. In 15 of those games, they’ve had two or fewer power plays; in seven of them, one or fewer.
“Power play is a little but about rhythm and confidence, and when you only get one or one and a half a night, your second unit doesn’t get to go very much and it leads to frustration, the first unit doesn’t get a lot of rhythm,” said McLellan, adding this is an issue that has to be repaired no matter how few chances they get to see it in a game.
“It has to get better. Our penalty kill has improved, the power play has to get better.”
We really need to find a way to score the important goals. We have to be able to find the net.” Oilers d-man Oscar Klefbom