As the Edmonton Oilers look to gain traction after a slow start to the season and begin climbing the standings to try and take another run at reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, here is our latest installment as Postmedia beat reporter Gerry Moddejonge checks in on this month’s Three Hot Topics …
MODEL OF INCONSISTENCY
The Edmonton Oilers have been running hotter and colder than an old Katy Perry song as they spent the first quarter of the schedule picking up the pieces of their broken hearts, which were smashed to bits after ending up on the wrong side of the deciding goal in Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals.
So far, they’ve managed to balance a three-game win streak with a three-game losing skid, and a 7-3 win over the reigning divisional-champion Vancouver Canucks with a 6-1 loss to the sub-par Columbus Blue Jackets.
Last week alone, the Oilers were summarily dispatched 3-0 by a Montreal Canadiens team that occupies last place in the Eastern Conference, before turning around and blowing the rampaging New York Rangers to smithereens with a convincing 6-2 win on Saturday to hand them their first consecutive loss of the season.
Yup, these Oilers are in and they’re out, they’re up and they’re down.
But that could all be about to change. This is, after all, the same time in the calendar the Oilers started going on a pair of monumental streaks that took them from obscurity, straight into the playoff picture.
Are they hoping to string together incredible runs of eight, and then 16 wins in a row again? Probably not. That’s wishful thinking even for a Connor McDavid-led team. But they’d better be able to turn that win over the Rangers into some momentum if they hope to finally find some traction in the standings and begin to climb.
Up to this point, the Oilers have only won one more game than they have lost (if you ignore Gary Bettman’s loser-point system), sitting 9-7-1 on Nov. 14. But it lasted just one game, as they continue to find themselves mired in mediocrity hovering around the .500 mark.
Currently, they sit fourth in the Pacific Division and eighth in the Western Conference at 11-9-2 to occupy the last playoff position with 24 points. But that could change as they enjoy a five-day break before their next game Friday on the road against the Utah Hockey Club (7 p.m., Sportsnet West).
GOALTENDING GRUMBLES
Stuart Skinner didn’t all of a sudden forget how to play in net. Sure, his numbers aren’t quite up to snuff with his first two seasons, which saw him named to the all-star game as a rookie before going on to guide the team to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals the following year.
Heck, it’s been so long since the Oilers raised a legitimate, starting-calibre goaltender on their own that you can’t even blame their fans for not recognizing the potential in one.
Instead, they point the finger of blame squarely on the crease for an Oilers season that has, so far, fallen well short of expectations.
But let’s remember one thing — it was Oilers mismanagement that led to the club putting all of their proverbial eggs into Skinner’s basket, heaping all their hopes on making the most of McDavid’s playoff window onto a second-year goaltender whose career could best be described as a baptism by fire. And all he’s done so far is respond by going through the inevitable growing pains to rise up to the challenge and stand on his own two feet.
And at a price tag the always cap-strapped Oilers can actually afford, no less. (For now, anyway.)
So, the next time someone brings up the idea of a trade for John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, or Mackenzie Blackwood of the San Jose Sharks, perhaps it might be prudent to shift the focus to the root cause — the demolished defensive group in front of Skinner, which management allowed to be chopped almost in half over the off-season, through free agency, an offer sheet and a trade.
PK PICKING IT UP
There was hardly a starker contrast than the one between where the Oilers penalty kill left off in the playoffs, and where it picked things up to start the season.
From first place in the league, operating at an incredibly efficient 93.4 per cent, all the way down to the very bottom of the barrel at below 60 per cent, at one point, in barely the span of one off-season.
But there is a hint of light at the end of the tunnel. Over the past seven games, the Oilers penalty kill has posted a perfect 16-for-16.
Sure, it hasn’t been enough to lift them any higher than a couple of spots, to sit 30th overall at 70.9 per cent (39-for-55), but it represents an important cornerstone to build off of.
All of a sudden, the Oilers can operate under the notion that any little mistake they make won’t automatically end up in the back of their net. The rejuvenated penalty kill — one that was certainly affected by the aforementioned losses on defence — is beginning to find its legs and offering breathing room to the rest of the team on 5-on-5.
McDavid and Co. can continue to take chances and push the envelope on offence and buckle down with some hard-nosed defence knowing that if they go too far, the ref’s whistle no longer means for whom the bell tolls.
Now, if only they could find a way to kickstart their 26th-ranked power play …
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E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge