No team has ever won a Stanley Cup in the pre-season.

But they can sure take some initial steps toward achieving some cohesiveness and familiarity that hopefully translates into momentum heading into the regular season.

Or can they?

The Edmonton Oilers could use all the help they can get when it comes to getting out of the gates, after back-to-back seasons of slow, shaky starts.

Of course, they more than made up for it, and proved the old adage it’s not how you start, but how you finish that counts, by reaching the Stanley Cup Final both times.

Still, considering they were the ones watching as the Florida Panthers hoisted hockey’s Holy Grail in the end, it’s tough not to wonder if a little bit smoother start to it all could have maybe — just maybe — made some sort of difference in the end.

So, as the Oilers prepare to open their exhibition schedule with a split-squad friendly against the rival Calgary Flames in a home-and-away preview of the Battle of Alberta on Sunday (6 p.m.), can any steps be taken in the pre-season to help them hit the ground running when it starts to count?

Just how slow is a slow start?

Kris Knoblauch can’t be blamed for the trend of sluggishness early on in each of the past two seasons.

He wasn’t even around two years ago, when the Oilers got off to a franchise-worst 2-9-1 start to the regular season. In fact, that’s the very reason he is around now, since the historic stumble by the team led to the midstream firing of his predecessor, Jay Woodcroft.

“Obviously, two years ago I wasn’t here. So, I wasn’t part of that,” said Knoblauch, whose .656 win percentage (94-47-10) is the highest mark out of all the 18 Oilers coaches there have been. “And last year, it wasn’t a (great) start, but I’m not sure it wasn’t anything to do with how we played in the exhibition games or how we practised.

“There were definitely things we could have done better.”

The Oilers lost their first three games, and spent the first seven weeks hovering around .500 before going on a 22-6-1 run to rocket back into the playoff picture, looking much more like their Stanley Cup Finalist selves.

“I just know that we were kind of dragging a lot of weight. A lot of, just, emotional baggage — I don’t know how to say it,” Knoblauch said. “But we just weren’t fired up to play hockey as maybe another team that had been off since April.”

Losing Game 7 of the championship series by a single goal can have that effect on a club. Especially one based in Edmonton, where the Oilers became synonymous with winning throughout the ’80s, but haven’t hoisted the Cup since 1990.

“We’d lost Game 7, a very close game, and I don’t think we were really fired up to start,” Knoblauch said of the 2024-25 regular season. “And you could tell through training camp and exhibition games that we weren’t firing on all cylinders like we should have.”

Why should this year be any different?

Oilers fans would like nothing more than to see a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, especially if it ends in victory this time around. But they can sure do without another up-and-down start to it all.

Training camp has hosted a revamped roster that has gotten younger and faster over the off-season. Whether the fresh blood pumping through the lineup makes for quicker legs out of the starting blocks, only time will tell.

“From what I see, I think we’re off to a better start,” Knoblauch said. “Our mentality is just getting ready for Game 1 a lot more than we were last year.

“So, I think there are definitely things we learned from last year, but I think everyone’s in a better frame of mind, for sure.”

That comes despite having lost out on Lord Stanley’s mug for the second year in a row.

G-MAN’S TAKE: It’s not going to matter one like how these games pan out over the next couple of weeks. Win, lose or draw, the Oilers have one central focus heading into the season, and that’s getting themselves back into position to fight for the Stanley Cup once again.

That’s not to say the pre-season is meaningless. There are always some kinks that need to be worked out before the regular season, and all the new pieces need to be test-driven in various permutations and combinations in order to find the best fit.

This roster is well versed in what it will take to get where they want to go, and the veteran leadership group will stop at nothing to ensure whatever newcomers that manage to stick around are all rowing in the right direction early on.

So, sit back, grab your favourite snack and enjoy these first few exhibitions. If history has taught us anything, fans are going to need to save their energy up in order to endure a stumble out of the regular-season gates. And if not, and the Oilers manage to pull together early on and get off to a strong start, many a prayer will be sent skyward for them to maintain it.

After all, in a hockey-mad market where the sky always seems to be inches away from falling in on everything, the Oilers could sure prop things up for their fan base with a confident, solid start to it all this time around.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge