Having gone 3-1 in their longest continuous road trip of the season, the Edmonton Oilers can’t help but think they let one get away.
After having played nine of 13 games at home in December, where they lost only once at Rogers Place (to the defending-champion Florida Panthers they met in the Stanley Cup Finals, but that’s another story), the Oilers rang in the new year going coast to coast with a journey that saw them play five games in nine days across four different time zones, including a stop at home against the Anaheim Ducks.
But while you can’t win ’em all, the one hit they took was a big one.
A 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a four-game win streak, and seemingly came out of nowhere on the heels of a 4-0 shutout against the Boston Bruins — the only team in a playoff position they faced during the span.
And they followed up with a loss in what was supposed to have been the closest thing to guaranteed-win night against an opponent Edmonton won its previous seven meetings against by a combined score of 37-9.
It was over almost as soon as it began, with the Penguins taking a 3-0 lead a little more than 10 minutes in that proved insurmountable over the remaining 50.
Instead of answering back by charging out of the gates on their next stop on the trip, the Oilers suddenly found themselves facing a downward spiral after falling behind 2-0 to a Chicago Blackhawks team ranked 32nd in the 32-team league.
‘A confident group’
But some timely secondary scoring came to the rescue, as Adam Henrique and Corey Perry scored to tie the game 3-3, before the power play put them over the top in the third period complements of Zach Hyman’s 14th goal of the season.
“We just turned it up and got to our game,” said Henrique, who came up with his third goal in as many games, after earning one in his previous 21. “But I thought we did a good job just responding.
“We’re a confident group. We know when we’re on our game and we know when we’re off our game. So, there doesn’t have to be a big rah-rah speech in the room between periods to know that we have to step up and get to our game.”
It’s what good teams do, as the Oilers came up with their third multi-goal comeback win of the season.
And good teams often benefit from short memories.
If the Oilers return home with any sort of souvenir of their latest getaway, it’s that really good teams can’t take a single period off, let alone a night.
Not if they are looking to earn home-ice advantage they know all too well can be ever so crucial come playoff time.
“I feel like every single game, you should win. I think that’s (the goal),” Henrique said. “But through the entire season you’re not going to win every game.
“We know the areas we have to improve and we can do that in between periods when needed.”
For now, at least, they will take those three wins on the road.
‘Good road trip’
“Pretty good, honestly. Even the last two periods against Pittsburgh,” said league-leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl, who pushed his total to 31 on the season after adding three more on the trip. “Had the puck a lot, created a lot of looks. That game can go either direction too, probably.
“Played a couple bad periods that really hit us. So, all in all a good road trip.”
One that showed the Oilers the value in getting off to a fast start, as they got off on the wrong foot with three- and two-goal deficits after having been the ones to score first in their previous seven games.
“We were pushing. I’m not sure we had any more scoring chances than we did against Pittsburgh,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “They went in for us. In that Pittsburgh game, I thought there were five or six goal posts, one puck that almost crossed the line by a quarter of an inch but didn’t. Tonight, we were able to find a way to get the puck in the back of the net.”
It’s not about to get any easier for the Oilers, whose next six are against teams in playoff positions. And three of those are back on the road.
“I think looking at our schedule, how difficult our next five or six games are, it’s about as tough a schedule throughout the regular season,” Knoblauch said. “Not only playing good teams but being away from Rogers for quite a bit.
“So, it feels a lot nicer getting the win tonight so we can head out and have those tough matchups.”
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge