EDMONTON – That Connor McDavid has just a single assist in his past four games is somewhat criminal considering the quality of his play.
But you get what you earn, not what you deserve, which is why the Vegas Golden Knights are a playoff lock these days while the Edmonton Oilers went into their game Thursday with a less than two per cent chance of making the post-season.
McDavid setup his team’s only goal and Edmonton managed to beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 in a shootout. There’s not much left in this season – already – for the Oilers but beating an old foe in Anaheim, and a performance like this one from McDavid makes a few things better, if only for a night.
The reigning MVP created all night long, skating 100 miles.
“He skated 100 miles, going 100 miles an hour,” corrected his coach, Todd McLellan. “That’s not an easy team to play against, as we know from the past.
“Connor showed tremendous leadership tonight. He said, ‘Follow me. I’m going to do it right. I’m going to do it fast, and you guys come along.’ And they did.”
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Edmonton’s overall game has been shoddy. Back-to-back 5-0 losses at home are evidence of that, not to mention a penalty kill that is barely over 50 per cent at Rogers Place.
All the negatives this losing club had righted to become a winner a season ago have crept back into their game. Thursday was much cleaner, despite a power-play goal by Anaheim. It had better stay that way.
“It has to,” said defenceman Kris Russell, who buried a McDavid pass for the only Edmonton goal in regulation. “It’s that time of the year that we have to win games. We have to draw everything we can out of this game, get some confidence and take it on the road.”
The Oilers finally hit .500 before Christmas then watched it unravel after the break. Four straight losses before Thursday night, a win against Anaheim still leaves them an impossible eight points back of the wild-card spot.
The good news? They open a five-game road trip Saturday in Dallas and play in Chicago Sunday in back-to-back matinees.
“We are definitely comfortable on the road, I’m not sure what it is,” mused McDavid. “We seem to be able to find a way to put games together on the road. This is a big back-to-back here. Dallas is a team we have had trouble with in their building and Chicago as well. We have to find a way to put together two wins.”
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Out of the blue during the third period the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens announced a trade. The Oilers get veteran backup goalie Al Montoya, and give the Habs a fifth-round draft pick – which becomes a fourth-rounder if Montoya plays seven games this season for Edmonton.
Montoya makes $1.06 million and is signed through next season. While the Oilers are playing this as a chance for current backup Laurent Brossoit to go to the farm and get some games in, the reality is Montoya will be the No. 2 to Cam Talbot for the remainder of this season and next.
It’s unlikely the Oilers will re-sign Brossoit, who is a restricted free agent this summer. And even if they did make him an offer, the two NHL jobs are now taken.
“It was something we thought we needed to provide our group a while ago. It just doesn’t happen over night,” explained McLellan. “We’ve put ourselves in a situation now where Cam is going to play a ton of hockey and a young goaltender isn’t going to get as much as we originally thought he would at the beginning of the year.”
Montoya is said to be ready to come off injured reserve (concussion) as soon as this weekend. Brossoit was unavailable for comment post-game.
Barring injury, we’d wager he’s played his last game as an Oiler.
The Edmonton Oilers are toiling near the bottom of the NHL standings with a record of 17-20-3 and will have their work cut out for them if they hope to get back into the playoff mix.
CBC Sports caught up with Oilers Radio Network analyst Bob Stauffer to find out what is going on with a team that entered 2017-18 with high expectations after making the playoffs last season for the first time in more than a decade.
CBC Sports: What can you say about the feel of the Oilers at the halfway mark?
Bob Stauffer: I certainly think there's a degree of frustration that they've put themselves in this position. They have far greater expectations based on what they accomplished last year and the progressive step they took as an organization and as a team. They probably thought maybe with a couple breaks — they lost three one-goal games to Anaheim — during that [second-round series] that maybe they could have had a different result there too. And they were hoping to build upon it, and through 40 games that hasn't come to fruition.
CBC Sports: How have the Oilers ended up in this position?
Stauffer: They didn't get off to a great start and they've been okay five-on-five most of the season, but they've had significant challenges on special teams. They had a decent stretch [four straight wins] before the Christmas break and no team when they're going good wants to stop playing. Now they've come out of it and dropped four in a row. They haven't been able to sustain a 10 or 12-game stretch where they play really well, and based upon the expectations of what they probably had of themselves as a team and certainly the expectations that a lot of the experts had for this group this year. They probably thought they were going to be capable of a lot more.
CBC Sports: What has been the biggest problem for the Oilers?
Stauffer: The Oilers are [55.6 per cent] on the penalty kill at home and it just sucks the life and the energy out of the team and out of the building. That has been a major thing that has short-circuited any success this year. Good penalty killers will tell you that you have to be 100 per cent engaged and committed to the process. The Oilers have all four centres kill penalties and all four centres are on the two power-play units. They've got to have some guys find a way to carve out a niche for themselves to kill penalties to help the team out right now, I think that's a given in terms of the forwards. As a rule of thumb, you also need your goalie to be your best penalty killer. Cam Talbot has a career [.919] save percentage and [now he's at .903]. Cam would be the first to tell you he needs to play better. That's the thing. There isn't a guy here who wouldn't tell you he needs to play better. That's part of the position they're in.
Los Angeles wins 5-0, scores 3 power-play goals after Patrick Maroon is ejected. 0:26
CBC Sports: With the league trending to toward speed and skill, is their style of play conducive to success?
Stauffer: When Todd McLellan came in, he wanted to coach a team that was hard and fast and supportive. I would suggest that when Leon Draisaitl and Drake Caggiula were out with concussions in the third week of October and the Oilers didn't have Jesse Puljujarvi up at that time and Jujhar Khaira was not in the lineup on a regular basis — Edmonton was slow up front. Puljujarvi is clearly showing signs and when they have Caggiula and Draisaitl they are more capable of being able to play that style. They've had some challenges [defensively] and the Oilers are going to need better play out of them. [The bottom line is] they're all in this thing together. They put themselves collectively in this position and the only way they're going to get out of it is as a team.
CBC Sports: Are you sensing tension from the fan base toward the players and management?
Stauffer: There were great expectations. The fans kept the building full and have dealt with some very challenging times for a number of years. They saw a team take a quantum leap forward last year and now there's been a significant regression through the first half of the season and it has been frustrating. Around the league, no one's crying over the Oilers. The perception is that Edmonton was gifted Connor McDavid. I would argue that they were also gifted Leon Draisaitl. I deal with that everyday on Twitter and everyday on our radio show — just how frustrated the fans are — and it comes with the territory. [But] the message would be that the sky isn't falling in. They have a tremendous young core of players. There is real frustration with the position they're in and really only the team can get themselves out of it.
CBC Sports: Are jobs on the line with the way things are going?
Stauffer: The coach and players can impact the immediacy of the situation and if the situation doesn't get resolved, then it goes further up the food chain, that's how this business works. Those guys have the first chance to get this turned around. The irony of all of this is a week ago going into the game against Winnipeg, we were talking about how the Oilers had won four straight games and were poised to get in the playoff mix, and now they're on the outside and looking like a long shot to work their way back in based on historical numbers. There's an old saying in professional sports: there's winning and there's misery. Well they dropped four straight and they didn't have a lot of room to be dropping games, so they're living that misery right now.
This in from TSN’s Darren Dreger talked to TSN1260’s Dustin Nielson: “These two clubs came real close to making a pretty big trade not that long ago and just couldn’t get it done, and that trade was Taylor Hall for, I think they finally got to a place where Ottawa was willing to consider Cody Ceci, so it would have been Hall for Ceci, but it had to be cleared in Ottawa through ownership and before they could get clearance Hall got traded to New Jersey for Larsson.”
Dreger said there would not have been more coming from Ottawa. “There were varying scenarios, I believe, if memory serves, that were discussed between Ottawa and Edmonton but I think that that was the one that was the closest.”
My take
Dreger is a credible source who does a lot of good work, but he doesn’t always get every single detail right. Very few reporters do, even the best reporters. Last July he reported it would be a surprise to see Leon Draisaitl sign with the Oilers for anything less than $9 million per. Draisaitl signed for $8.5 million per. In early June, well before the Jordan Eberle trade, he reported Eberle would definitely get traded. Bingo! In June 2016 he talked about the Winnipeg Jets being willing to move Jacob Trouba for Darnell Nurse, but the Oilers not willing to make that move. At the same time he reported the Oilers were interested in Kevin Shattenkirk, which has now been confirmed. In March 2014 Dreger ripped Nail Yakupov and said it would be unlikely he’d be back with the Oilers for the 2014-15 season. But Yak was back. In June 2015, Dreger had the New York Rangers getting a first round pick for goalie Cam Talbot, who eventually came to Edmonton for a lesser package of picks. As mentioned, Dreger doesn’t always get it right about what’s going to come, but he very often does. He does not make up stuff as his good name and good reputation are on the line. He’s a reliable and credible source in the murky insider world of NHL trade and contract speculation. Does he have all the details and nuance right about this Hall for Ceci proposition? Did his source have an axe to grind, such as maybe, possibly (and I’m just guessing here) trying to make the Ottawa owner look wonky for not jumping on such a trade? Could it be that the Oilers were trying to heat up the market and putting out all kinds of propositions in regards to Hall, trying to gain leverage in the market? In the end, we’re going on Dreger’s word here as he gives us no source, so I’ll put this rumour in the “likely/maybe” category. It comes from a credible source, but is unconfirmed. I put some weight in it, and believe such a deal was discussed, but something about it doesn’t sound right here, essentially the notion that Ottawa would have to be convinced to move Ceci for the high-flying Hall, as that move strikes me as a no-brainer. It sounds a bit off, no? At the time, Cody Ceci was a 4/5 d-man in Ottawa, getting 19:17 in icetime per game. He had 26 points in 75 games and was +9. It’s hard to imagine how he’d be good value for Hall. Larsson had been a top pick and was top-pairing in New Jersey. He was a much better bet than Ceci. The Larsson-for-Hall deal remains controversial. The vasty majority of Edmonton Oilers fans were pleased with it last year when Larsson played strong hockey on a strong Oilers team and Hall was less than stellar, after getting hurt, on a bad New Jersey team. This year it’s Hall who is healthy and playing strong hockey on a strong team, with Larsson banged up and struggling on a struggling team, so those who always hated the Hall trade are in “I told you so” mode, as is to be expected.
GAME DAY 41: Oilers vs Ducks
As for tonight’s game against the hated Anaheim Ducks, well, before this season started, we would all have been looking forward to this game as one of the big matches of the year. Now it’s a major disappointment, as the Oilers with 17 wins and 23 losses are out of the playoff race, given the inability to fix the team’s terrible penalty kill and lame power play.
Lucic-McDavid-Puljujarvi Cammalleri-RNH-Strome Caggiula-Drasaitl-Slepyshev Khaira-Letestu-Kassian Nurse-Larsson Klefbom-Russell Sekera-Benning Talbot
Staples on the city
To avoid another LRT fiasco, we should build BRT to West Edmonton Mall
At the Cult
STAPLES: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Max Pacioretty? Ray Ferraro speculates
STAPLES: Maroon suspended. What does it mean?
McCURDY: McDavid and Nurse lead way in last ten game segment review
STAPLES: 13 questions for Oilers coach Todd McLellan
Maybe the Oilers, losers of four in a row, can feed off the game against Anaheim to get off the mat
Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton Oilers, Rogers Place, 7 p.m. TV: Sportsnet, Radio: 630 CHED
It was just last spring that the Anaheim Ducks ended the Edmonton Oilers’ season.
Now, eight months later, they are in a position to do it again.
Already sitting nine points ahead of Edmonton in one of the final two Pacific Division wildcard spots, the Ducks can stretch it to an insurmountable 11 if they add to the Oilers’ recent home-ice woes.
And the woes are many.
Not only have the Oilers lost three in a row at ice-cold Rogers Place, including back-to-back 5-0 losses to the Winnipeg Jets and the Los Angeles Kings, and not only is their home ice penalty killing percentage (55.6) the worst in NHL history, they will be without winger Patrick Maroon as he serves the first game of a two-game suspension.
The only saving grace might be the motivation that comes with an Anaheim visit. The two clubs waged a fierce battle in the second round last season, with Anaheim prevailing in seven games.
“Any time a team ends your season you’re going to have that in the back of your mind and use that as motivation going forward,” said winger Drake Caggiula. “It’s the first time we play them this year, so hopefully it’s kind of like that San Jose game where there was a little bit of carry over from last year.
“This might be the game we need to get us going.”
It will take more than one game to turn Edmonton’s season around, but this would definitely be a good place to start. The Ducks have won five of their last six, though, so it will be a tough night.
“It’s always heated, it’s always emotional against Anaheim,” said centre Leon Draisaitl, who believes this game could like the spark the Oilers need.
“Every night you’re hoping this is the game that turns it around. We know they’ve been really strong lately and they’re getting healthier so it’s another good test for us.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we can’t take any games for granted. We have to make sure we’re ready to go right off the bat.”
Edmonton’s next two games are against the two teams they’re chasing for a wildcard spot — Anaheim and Dallas — and Maroon will be out for both after his head shot on Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty. The timing couldn’t be worse.
“Especially in a game like tonight, it hurts,” said Draisaitl “He’s an emotional player who plays with grit. He goes to the areas where a lot of players don’t want to go and he plays hard. We’re going to miss him.”
With Maroon out, Anton Slepyshev, a healthy scratch in 11 of the last 14 games, will draw in.
“He will get an opportunity to play in a much bigger role than he has in the past,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “It’s a great opportunity for him to go out and capture some ice time.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @Rob_Tychkowski
Tonight’s lineups
Injuries — Oilers: none; Ducks: Corey Perry (knee, questionable), Patrick Eaves (Guillain-Barre Syndrome), Ondrej Kase (flu)
Five Things to Watch
1. Animosity
This is the first meeting between the teams since the seven-game playoff series that ended early in May with a Ducks final win at home.
It seems ridiculous that two teams that played one another in the post-season should have to wait until game 41, halfway through the year, to resume hostilities but that’s the way it is.
Maybe the Oilers, losers of four in a row, can feed off the game against Anaheim to get off the mat.
2. Oilers need to kill a penalty
We’ve used up all the adjectives — abysmal, dreadful, wretched, laughable — to describe Edmonton’s PK at home, but it’s the worst in the league by a country mile at 55.6 per cent.
They’ve given up 28 goals in 21 home games, which means they are down a goal before the game even starts.
The Kings, with six PP goals on the road all year, got three in three minutes Tuesday on a five-minute penalty.
3. Score a power-play goal
They are 6-for-53 over the last 20 games, with power-play goals in only four of those games. Against L.A., they had three PPs and two shots on Jonathan Quick. They had two PPs when the game was on the line in the first 40 minutes against the Kings and got nothing done.
Lots of passing on the perimeter, lots of rotation of players, but no concerted pressure, at all.
4. Centre battle
Ryan Getzlaf ate up the Oilers in the early going last spring until the Oilers put the bigger-bodied Leon Draisaitl against him.
Draisaitl needs a jolt after three indifferent games in a row. He was particularly ineffective against the Kings on Tuesday, on a night when Connor McDavid needed his sidekick to be as on top of his game as he was.
Getzlaf has missed 24 games through two injuries but has 16 points in his last 11 games since returning from a facial fracture. Draisaitl has two goals in his last dozen games.
5. Last year’s Oilers?
Or has that ship sailed after the Christmas break when they’ve been outscored 18-6 and been shutout back-to-back 5-0 at home?
After four straight wins to get them to Christmas at .500, and really a strong month of hockey, they’ve reverted to the early season Oilers the past four games.
They aren’t out of the playoffs, but it’s close. They’re nine points out of third (San Jose) in the Pacific and nine behind the Ducks for the second wild-card spot.
Big Matchup
Connor McDavid vs Ryan Kesler
Kesler, who’s only been back for four games after off-season hip surgery, slimed McDavid through their playoff battle last spring.
The refs let Kesler agitate and discombobulate the Oilers captain with precious few penalties, and he also interfered with Oilers goalie Cam Talbot in the crease in the dying seconds of the Ducks’ comeback win in Game 4, so he’s an equal opportunity pain in the butt.
It’s easier for McDavid, who has two goals and eight career points against Anaheim to duck Kesler on home ice, but it’s still a game within a game.
Special Teams
Oilers: Power play 18-109 16.5 per cent, (24th). Penalty kill 38-130, 70.8 per cent (31st)
Ducks: Power play 19-113 16.8 per cent (22nd).Penalty kill 26-15 82.2 per cent (ninth)
Standings watch
E-mail: jmatheson@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @NHLbyMatty
