Connor McDavid’s quest for 1,000 career points has dominated the conversation around Rogers Place lately.
And for good reason. It’s not every day an Edmonton Oilers player becomes the fourth fastest to reach that mark in NHL history.
As big a moment as it is for the individual, his teammates and fans alike, this is a team that knows there is still a job to do.
After all, the Oilers are barely out of the shadow of another slow start to the season that has fallen well short of expectations. Especially considering this is a group fresh off losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals by one goal. And who came in driven by a feeling of unfinished business and a chip on their collective shoulder.
Instead, they lost their first three games and had trouble gaining any real traction in the standings, hovering around .500 one month into the season.
“I think the whole emotional part of the game was the big thing in the beginning,” said Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “I mean, we went 0-3 to start. I think we were almost grieving a little bit from going from a Cup final, Game 7, all the amp, all the juice you can have in a game. And then you come back a couple months later and you’ve got to go through it again.
“I think it takes a little bit of a moment to realize that it’s a lot of hard work to get to that point and to realize that we’re going to have to do that again. So, I think now, a couple more games in here, we’re starting to let that go behind us and look forward to this year and be excited about this.
“We know that if we don’t put down that same work, we’re not going to end up in that situation again. So, it’s about turning the page and I think we’ve done a good job of that, now we’re starting to look more like ourselves and playing a better brand of hockey.”
The Oilers were reintroduced to the painful memory of falling short with the Amazon Prime documentary series, Faceoff: Inside the NHL, airing just as this season got underway.
“Personally, I haven’t watched it,” Ekholm said. “But I’m sure it didn’t help in that regard. I’m not saying it has been a distraction. Maybe some guys feel that way, maybe some guys don’t. I can see how it could be.
“But personally, I choose not to relive that, I guess, and watch that thing. I’m sure it’s great and if we would have won, I probably would have watched it. But I choose not to and focus on this year and being in the now and knowing that we have 82 games this year that we need to make sure that we get enough points to get into playoffs. I’m not thinking too much about last year.”
But just like last year, the Oilers appear to be turning a corner and pointing themselves in the right direction, coming into Thursday’s game against the visiting Nashville Predators on a 6-3 run, looking to sweep the three-game season series against them and win their third game in a row for the first time this year.
“I thought even earlier in the year we were showing stretches of what we can do and playing good hockey, it just wasn’t happening consistently enough,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “It’s always a tough thing to find early in the season, but we’re doing a better job of it lately.
“There’s still growth to be had, but I think we’re getting there in playing the hockey that we want to play.”
The Oilers came in 13-1-2 in their previous 16 games against Nashville. But as the longest-serving member of Edmonton’s dressing room, Nugent-Hopkins recalls much leaner times, dropping 13 straight to the Predators from Oct. 29, 2014, to Oct. 20, 2018, and getting outscored 40-15.
“When I first came in even, and after a few years, they’ve always been a hard team to play against. We always struggled against them, going into that building,” he said. “We’ve turned the tide a little bit, but we know that they’re going to be hungry tonight.”
Ekholm was part of that Predators team at the time.
“I feel like that’s not just Edmonton-Nashville, I think that’s different teams,” he said. “I think we have teams right now that have our number and we just can’t find a way, and it can go on for months or even years.
“And then sometimes it just flip-flops the other way. It’s funny how hockey works that way, sometimes you have teams you just feel better against and do better against. And some teams, you just can’t seem to find a break.”
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge