There is a reason the NHL plays 82 games in the regular season all for a chance to earn home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
Simply put, it’s important.
Just ask the Edmonton Oilers if a home-crowd bump might have made all the difference when they went down to Fort Lauderdale in Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final and came out on the wrong side of the deciding goal.
Scratch that. Don’t ask them.
The wound is still too fresh after being reopened in another one-goal loss to the Florida Panthers while going 1-4 on a road trip through the Eastern Conference where they were outscored 22-13.
And you’d have to forgive them if Tuesday’s game back at Rogers Place against the Anaheim Ducks felt like a monumental homecoming, considering it was the Oilers’ first home game since Feb. 7 — 25 days earlier.
Given the fact the Oilers’ entire off-season was barely four times longer, those home jerseys might have needed a good dusting Tuesday.
And, hey, if it helps provide a bit of a boost on this three-game homestand after just getting over a season-high five-game slump, then all the better.
‘Nice to be home’
“We love playing at home, love playing in front of our fans,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. “It’s nice to be home, sleep in your own bed, and I know for a lot of the guys who were at 4 Nations, it’s been even longer.
“So, it’s good to be home and it’s going to be exciting to play here.”
The 4 Nations Face-Off, which ended with Oilers captain Connor McDavid scoring in overtime as Team Canada defeated the U.S. in the final, meant a 14-day break in the schedule, which was followed up by the road trip that spanned 11-days.
And that’s getting into reacclimatizing territory.
“It is a long break. It’s the longest since I’ve been here that we haven’t played at home, but it’s the best,” Hyman said. “I mean, we love playing at home so it’ll be a nice adjustment.”
Not that everyone on the roster is allowing themselves to feel too comfortable here on trade deadline week, when they could find themselves one phone call away from not calling Edmonton home any longer.
“Obviously, the deadline’s coming up where your team changes a little bit,” Hyman said. “You hopefully add and fortify things, and then you’ve got six weeks left to really gear up and get ready for the playoffs.
“And we’ve put ourselves in a great spot here now and we want to continue to fight for the division and try to have home ice as long as we can, because we know how important that is.”
A contender now
For Oilers forward Adam Henrique, Tuesday was a double dose of home, returning to Edmonton after an extended absence to face his former team, after having been plucked off the Ducks roster at the trade deadline a year ago.
The move extended his season by sending him from a pretender to a contender, before signing on with the Oilers again in the off-season in efforts to make another deep playoff push.
But that’s then, and this is now. Their focus over the final quarter of the season is on winning the race in the Pacific to capture the franchise’s first division title since 1987.
And they can’t afford another slump late in the schedule like this.
“The little things and the battle level and the desperation you’ve got to play with at this time of year have to be there every single night,” Henrique said. “I think the last couple games it’s been there and that has to continue now until the end of the season.”
The Oilers aren’t waiting until playoff time to go with their hot hand in net, giving Calvin Pickard consecutive starts for the first time in the regular season. The only other time he did it was in relief of Stuart Skinner during the second round of the post-season against the Vancouver Canucks.
“I think both goaltenders have been playing really well, ‘Picks’ has just really come up big,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said during Tuesday’s morning skate. “Especially the last game against Carolina. I think he’s won 12 of his last 14 starts — quality starts too, all but probably one of them.
“This is not a slight on Skinner, it’s just a reward for our backup goalie who’s been playing extremely well and being able to win games. So, we felt it was right that he got the start.”
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge