As mid-season charges go, what the Edmonton Oilers accomplished in the last three months is nothing short of epic.
Back in early December, they were 13-10-2 and sitting in the second wild card spot, a point behind Calgary and nine points back of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.
A month ago they were still six points back.
But thanks to a sustained 21-7-2 charge they hit the 4 Nations Face-Off break in first place in the Pacific Division, second in the Western Conference, and third overall.
They hit the gas for two months straight and passed almost everyone.
“It was always the goal to be up there and lead the division, and win the division,” said Leon Draisaitl, the driving force behind Edmonton’s dramatic push. “I think this was always the game plan for us as a group in here.”
As impressive and important as the last two months have been, however, it’s pretty clear they barely made it to the mid-season finish line. They looked like a NASCAR pulling into the pits with bald tires, dents all over the body and smoke pouring out from under the hood.
The Oilers were 4-2-1 in their last seven with a game that was just good enough to get past mediocre opponents (narrow, unimpressive wins over Buffalo, Seattle, St. Louis, and Chicago) but not good enough to beat the likes of Detroit, Toronto, and Colorado.
“I didn’t love our game the last couple of nights,” said Draisaitl. “Maybe it’s a little bit of fatigue kicking in or mentally we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.
“It seems like a lot of times breaks don’t come at the right time, but I feel like the one comes at the right time for us. We’ve been battling with some illnesses and stuff that’s going around and we’re grinding through it a little bit right now.”
Everyone can see it. The Oilers have been tailing off rather dramatically the last couple of weeks. They’ve been able to mask it with some superb goaltending performances and their overall ability to grind out wins when they aren’t at their best.
And it helps that Draisaitl has nine goals and seven assists in his last 10 games.
But something’s missing. Their sharpness is a little dull and the attention to detail is wavering. The structure and defensive resolve that had become the bedrock of their game is a little messy.
Asked about leading the Pacific at the break, Connor McDavid admitted that despite being where they want to be in the standings, they aren’t where they need to be on the ice.
“It’s more about playing well,” he said. “We haven’t had a great stretch of hockey. I know we found ways to win games but it hasn’t been our best.
“We’re just lacking a little bit in terms of some energy or emotion.”
They looked exceptionally porous Friday against Colorado. But, then again, what do you look like at work on the last day before going on holidays?
Perhaps they already had one foot on the beach when the puck dropped.
“No,” said Hyman. “But, obviously, the way we played seems like it. The mentality going in was to have a really good game to go into the break feeling good. Nobody was thinking about the break, but obviously that’s not the performance that you would want to have.”
That might have just been the fumes talking. The Oilers played a lot of hockey since the start of last season (82 regular season, 25 in the playoffs and 55 games in a compressed schedule this year) that’s 162 games in a year and a half, not counting pre-season. And the Oilers had to keep their foot on the gas all of this season to overcome another slow start and played nine of 12 games on the road in a recent 22-day stretch.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch, for one, thinks they need a break.
“It’s been a long year and a half,” said Knoblauch. “It was a long season playing into June and right back at it for training camp and in their minds this is going to be another long year.
“It’s a good time for everyone to get a little break, get recharged and get ready for the second half.”
The bottom line is the Oilers are 34-17-4 and sit first in the Pacific Division. They went 16-3-1 before the recent slowdown. It’s time to catch their breath, regroup, hope that McDavid and Mattias Ekholm stay healthy through the 4 Nations Face-Off and then see where they’re at when the season resumes.
If the recent sputter was just fatigue, they should be fine. If the struggles continue then it’s a pretty serious concern.
“Hopefully this break comes at the right time,” said Draisaitl. “Obviously (we need to) get back to playing collective good hockey when we come back.”
E-mail: [email protected]
Bookmark our website and support our journalism:Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.