Goal scoring is funny.
Unless you don’t have any, in which case there’s nothing funny about it at all — it’s more like frustration, uncertainty and defeat.
But, even when the puck is going in, the guys who score will tell you that finding the back of the net often comes at the whim of a higher power.
There are a select few in the NHL who have fully mastered the art of scoring and can do it week in and week out, no matter what, but for everyone else it can seem like they’re at the mercy of fate.
They are the same guys playing the same way, and sometimes the pucks go in and sometimes they don’t.
And right now they’re going in for the Edmonton Oilers. After six weeks of famine, the team is starting to feast. Some slumping players are starting to feel it again and the Oilers are starting to run together some strong offensive outings.
They’ve scored four or more goals in five of the last seven games and are averaging 4.00 goals per game over those seven starts. In the 19 games prior it was 50 goals in 19 games (2.63).
“We’ve always been confident in our group but early on, it seemed like you just can’t get one no matter what,” said centre Adam Henrique, who’s gone from three points in the first 19 games of the season to six points in the last seven. “The guys have done a good job staying confident in their abilities and it’s turned.”
Just in time, too. The Oilers were teetering on the edge of a bad place before the floodgates opened.
“It can be a big challenge, things can snowball in the wrong direction where you’re trying to do too much with the puck,” said Henrique. “But you just have to have the mentality that as long as you’re working and doing the right things away from the puck, it will come.
“Sometimes that’s easier said than done but you just have to work through it and eventually it will turn and go your way.”
Near as they can tell, the Oilers haven’t changed a whole lot in the last seven games, only now the goals are coming.
“I don’t see much difference, maybe bearing down around the net,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, who’s been saying all year that it was only a matter of time before the production caught up with the analytics.
“The quality of shots has been high all season. Leading into the (6-3 win over Columbus), we were No. 2 in expected goals for, and we’ve been pretty much two or three all season long. And just this last week or so, we’ve been able to put the pucks in the net.”
The coaches tried to reassure their slumping players that they were doing all the right things and creating as many grade A chances as any team in the league. Stick with it, they were told, and the shooting percentages will even out and the goals will start to flow.
“Sometimes when they tell you that, it just makes it more frustrating that it’s not going in,” said Henrique. “That’s the part where you have to keep pushing and trust in yourself and your abilities and more often than not it does.”
But as much as everyone wants to remain patient and trust that their puck luck will return to normal levels, you can only wait for so long before it’s too late. That was the fine line the coaches had to walk while waiting for offence — the one thing the Oilers have always been famous for — to make its comeback.
“It’s difficult for a coach, you have to be patient but there’s a point in time where you have to address things,” said Knoblauch. “We’ve addressed things but didn’t do anything drastic. There is an emphasis on things we can do to score goals, how the defencemen are getting pucks to the net, how our forwards are getting to the net, what shots we’re taking, how we’re getting second chance opportunities.
“It’s mostly just reminders and hopefully they can implement them during games.”
Zach Hyman is the poster boy for the hands-of-stone start. He had three goals in his first 20 games. Then, in his first game back from injury, two goals in two periods Thursday night against Columbus.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is another one. After an abysmal start (two goals and seven assists in 22 games), he has two goals and three assists in his last four games.
Jeff Skinner, after a drought that saw him count for one goal and one assist in 15 games, is coming on as well, with two goals and two assists in the last six.
As Craig MacTavish once said, it’s the life cycle of a 20-goal scorer: Sometimes they look like they can score 50 and sometimes they look like they might never light another lamp.
“It’s always feels like you’re playing better or executing better when you’ve got some confidence and things are going your way,” said Skinner. “Then you go through times when things aren’t bouncing your way and you just have to fight through it.
“You create as many opportunities as you can and cash in when you can.”
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