Breadcrumb Trail Links
Published Nov 03, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read
The Edmonton Oilers celebrate their third goal against the Calgary Flames during first period action at the Heritage Classic, in Edmonton Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia
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They came into the season on a mission to improve their defensive game in the hopes of tipping the scales at the end of the year.
Instead, the Edmonton Oilers have found themselves struggling under the weight of a 2-6-1 record that resembles anything but the Stanley Cup contender the pundits prognosticated them as being over the off-season.
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And as for fixing the defence, things have only gotten worse as the Oilers are averaging four goals-against per game to sit right near the back of the pack, 30th in the league.
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Oh, and it’s not the only area of their game that has taken steps backward, as their record wholeheartedly indicates.
“It has been nine games here. It has been a tough stretch, we’re into it up to our knees,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft, whose squad faces a Nashville Predators team they have already beaten once this year, when they square off Saturday (1 p.m.) at Rogers Place. “We have the opportunity to go 3-6-1. Last year, we had a segment that was 3-7.
“It’s a tough segment, but you’ve got to work your way out of it.”
And continue all the way to 109 points for a top-five finish to a regular-season in franchise history.
Which poses the question, what’s changed to make this Oilers group unable to pick up this season where they left the last one off?
“We have the people to get it done,” Woodcroft said. “This team’s won 100 games. It’s gone to five playoff rounds in the last two years.
“We have had tough times in those times, we’re going through one right now. It’s about sticking together. That’s what I think.”
In seasons past, the Oilers could rely on the offensive powerhouse up front led by the duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to overcome many shortcomings on the back end.
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So, why have goals-against become such a problem out of the gates this year?
“Great question. If I had the answer, I’d probably implement it in here right away,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “It’s not the one way we’re getting scored on, I think there’s many factors. The odd game, it’s the rushes that’s the problem, the odd game it’s mental errors or mistakes or lapses.
“Right now, we’re not scoring at the pace where we can, I guess, mask those mistakes and it’s costing us games.”
Like Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.
“We had 50 shots (on goal) yesterday. We had almost 100 attempts. We played really good against Calgary,” Ekholm said of Sunday’s Heritage Classic win. “There is still a process that’s working, it’s just because it’s the first 10 games of the season and everyone’s seeing the win column. Nobody’s happy with that.
“The room is feeling, even though the results haven’t gone our way yet, that we’re working toward a process that will lead us to a segment where we win a bunch of games and make up for this.”
But the funk the Oilers find themselves in isn’t just a defensive issue.
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“Obviously, we haven’t been scoring the way that we want to, so obviously there’s some frustration there,” Draisaitl said. “But I think if we continue to put pucks on net like that, more often than not we’ll score enough to win.
“It seems to me like it’s more individual mistakes than systematic or anything like that. So, I think individually, I don’t know, we lost our sharpness for a second and it seems like every time that happens it’s in the back of the net.”
That doesn’t mean these Oilers have to all of a sudden start playing mistake-free.
“Mistakes are going to happen, it’s just can you limit them to a certain number where you can come out on the good side.”
They are well aware of what they are able to do, coming off of back-to-back seasons where they were only knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
“A lot of it’s mental,” said Draisaitl. “Having the confidence to go out there to not be afraid to make mistakes and not be afraid to play aggressive defensively.
“That’s where the confidence part comes in. Looking around the room, we’ve got a lot of good hockey players in here. This might be a new year but we’ve done some really good things in this league and for each other over the course of a few years here together.
“We’ve got to continue to chip away at that and not lose the confidence in who we are as a group.”
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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