It’s been a December to remember for the Edmonton Oilers heading into the Christmas break.
As far as monthly productivity goes, the Oilers couldn’t have hoped for much better heading into their final game before the stockings get hung with the Ottawa Senators at Rogers Place on Sunday.
If a turnaround was at the top of the Oilers’ wish list this year, then they must have been very good, indeed.
They avoided Santa’s naughty list by going 7-2 over the first three weeks of December. And 10-2, if you include the final three games of November.
And that’s a whole bowl full of jelly better than the .500 record the Oilers posted in the opening month, going 5-5-1 through October.
“We started the season not in the playoff picture for a couple of weeks. Would I expect that? No,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose squad entered the season after losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers. “Not that we played terribly, I think our record should have been better. And I think the two outlying factors were the shooting percentage for and against.
“More pucks were going in than should have and we weren’t putting pucks in the net over a short period of time. And there were times in January, February, March where things aren’t going our way and we can’t put the puck in the net — like it was (Saturday) night.”
In the meantime, the Oilers are content to make hay while the sun is shining.
“I think the last three or four weeks, things have been going pretty well for us,” Knoblauch said. “But we’ve also been shooting at a much higher percentage than what we could realistically expect throughout the rest of the year.”
Pucks have been going in, yes. And while you can’t win them all, when other teams have managed to get the better of the Oilers lately, it’s been by the smallest of margins.
The only two games the Oilers lost over the first three weeks of December were both by a single point: 1-0 to the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights; and 6-5 in the Stanley Cup rematch to the Panthers, who are tied atop the Atlantic Division.
But Knoblauch isn’t one to get ahead of himself. He ascribes to the mantra of things never being quite as good as they seem, or as bad as they seem.
“At the beginning of the year, I don’t think we were that bad. I think we were better than our record showed,” he said. “And I think these last 10 or 15 games, maybe we’re not quite that good either?”
Not that the Oilers have exactly been dominating the entire time. Back-to-back 3-2 overtime wins where the tying goal only came in the final minutes shows an element of luck has also been a factor.
But it all comes down to the Oilers being able to find ways to win.
By this time last year, the Oilers were 15-15-1 heading into the Christmas break on a two-win streak that they ended up turning into an impressive 16-win run that lasted the entire month of January.
And while last year’s roster was just hitting its stride at this point, the current Oilers squad is already a main fixture in the playoff race, sitting top 10 in league standings.
“We’ve found a way,” Knoblauch said. “And I like how we’ve persevered and stuck with the game plan and come up with those victories when maybe not all those times you find ways not to do it.”
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
Knoblauch will be home for Christmas this year, since the Oilers have a four-day break prior to travelling to Los Angeles on Friday to face the Kings when the schedule resumes Saturday (2 p.m., Sportsnet).
But the important part, of course, is being with his family, who had yet to make the move to Edmonton when he got the job with the Oilers last year.
“Last year was very special and it worked out perfectly,” said Knoblauch, who had been coaching the New York Rangers affiliate Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League. “We played our last game in New York, which is the closest place to where my family was. And we also had a long break, so I got to spend some time there with them.
“This year’s been completely different, they’ve been with me and I get to see them every day that we are at home. And I am still very excited for the break to spend that time with them.”
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge