Every other day, it seems like another aspect of the Edmonton Oilers is falling into place.
Whether it’s next generation talents Vasily Podkolzin and Matt Savoie planting their flags in Edmonton’s top six, the second pairing of Darnell Nurse and Connor Murphy shoring up the defence or the goaltending of Connor Ingram providing the backbone of the Oilers recent surge, the glaring holes of the first 65 games are getting filled.
And now we’re seeing Edmonton’s bottom six starting to take shape, with goals from the third (Kasperi Kapanen) and fourth (Max Jones) lines securing a 3-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
But more important than the secondary scoring, which is nice, but isn’t necessarily what they’re being counted on to provide, is the identity they’re building — hard physical forechecking and momentum changing shifts that wear down the other team and set the stage for Edmonton’s high end players.
“Absolutely, they have helped us win each of these last four games,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, after the suddenly-surging Oilers posted their longest win streak of the season
“They’re providing some offence and also some set-up shifts, spending some time in the offensive zone, grinding the other team’s defence down, finishing their checks, making it hard for them. Then McDavid follows that up and it’s so much easier for him to do his thing.
“Maybe they’re not scoring every night, but they’re just carrying momentum, which is helping our team.”
They’ve been shuffled around, but Jones, Kapanen, Jason Dickinson, Curtis Lazar, Josh Samanski and Adam Henrique are finding chemistry no matter what the combinations are. And with Trent Frederic and Colton Dach ready to return in short order, the Oilers suddenly have all kinds of options in the bottom six.
And with those options, the team is developing an identity — stingy, hard to play against with solid goaltending and a quick-strike offence. That’s a 180-degree turn from where they were a month ago.
“I think everybody at this point in the season expects to know where they are at and what they need to be doing on the ice,” said Jones, adding they are all fine with the internal competition.
“We watch guys get into the lineup and do great things and we’re happy for them. At the end of the day we have one goal here. I’ve noticed that since I got traded here last year. Everything else doesn’t matter.
“There’s one goal and if you’re not a part of it then you’re not going to be here. It’s very evident with this group and how close it is and how much everybody really cares for each other.”
It’s no accident that things are falling into place in the final two weeks of the season. It was either get it together or go out with a whimper. It appears that rolling over and accepting that it’s not their year doesn’t seem to be an option.
“This group knows what time of year is coming up,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “When the stage gets bigger we tend to show up. Playoff time is when this team is at its best. That’s one of the bigger factors, the urgency goes up when it’s this time of year. Kudos to us for finding it because sometimes you just can’t if you have a sluggish start to the year.”
“We were teetering on dropping out of the playoff picture,” added Knoblauch. “I think that caught everyone’s attention.”
Whether the Oilers, after two runs to the Stanley Cup Final, were just disinterested for the first 65 games of the regular season or they genuinely couldn’t find their game doesn’t matter — they’re finding it now.
“The main thing is that we’re playing the right way right now and that counts, so we just have to keep building,” said Kapanen. “It’s all coming together at a perfect time right now so we’re happy where we’re at.”
Nobody wants to say it in October, November or January because then it sounds like you’re not taking the season seriously, but for teams that hope to be playing into late June, the season starts now, doesn’t it?
“I feel like ever since we had the conversation about just everyone stepping up a bit, it seems like everyone’s kind of just doing a little bit extra out there,” said Jones,
“The group is really fun to be a part of outside of the ice and just being in the locker room with them. When you have a good group like that you really rely on each other to do a good job.
“I feel like you can see it out there. Guys are playing the way that they know they should be. We’re playing great and it’s fun to be a part of.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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