EDMONTON — As the Edmonton Oilers players walked towards the family lounge, where their loved ones awaited them after that razor-thin loss to Colorado on Saturday, they stepped to the right as the dollies carrying the Montreal Canadiens' equipment rolled past on the left.
It was a metaphor for the seven-month grind that constitutes a National Hockey League season: You’d better be able to move on from one game or opponent, because the next one is just around the corner — sometimes even arriving at your rink before the last one has even departed.
But with a pair of NHL minnows — the 26th-place Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres (23rd) — on the Oilers’ schedule this week, this city has not moved on. Not at all.
On Monday the topic was still fresh, after that 3-2 overtime loss to the Avalanche.
Why doesn’t Edmonton win that game? At this stage of their arc, why do they still lose it?
“I've only been here for one game against (Colorado), so I don't really know the whole backstory,” began Corey Perry, a new-ish Oiler who certainly knows a thing or two about winning. “But you can see these teams have played against each other many times, and you can see that we have that next gear to get to.
“It’s right there, and once we find it, that’s going to take over for us.”
That “gear” isn’t what you might think it is, however.
“In a series you're going to need that momentum shift, whatever it is,” explained Perry. “It could come from anything: a hit can, a goal. It can be a big blocked shot or a save — whatever. There's a momentum shift at some point in the series that, hopefully, goes in your favour. That's where I think we could really look at that game and pick it apart.”
In a game played at lightning pace, Edmonton trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes, had a third-period goal called back, and still managed to hold a 2-1 lead with six minutes to play. That the lead got away — and the Avs scored at 4:59 of the overtime session to snag the second point — was more vexing than downright concerning.
It was the fifth consecutive overtime game between Colorado and Edmonton, which tells us there isn’t much to choose between the two. But Edmonton has won only one of those games, and folks around here are wondering when the time arrives that the Oilers stop simply playing with the big boys, and actually start beating them.
“You’ve got to beat them. That's the only way,” said Connor McDavid. “They've been tight-checking games. They've been close games. Five consecutive overtime games …
“It was a good game, a playoff-like game. Tight checking. I thought we did a good job of wrestling a lead, up 2-1 with five minutes left. You’ve got to find a way to close it out, and obviously we didn't do that,” he said. “We look back at that (2022 Western Conference Final), and they win. It's a sweep and they go on to win the Cup.”
It’s pretty simple math, once McDavid lays it out:
“If you want to be considered better than them, you’ve got to beat them. That's just the way it is.”
In the latest instalment of Edmonton-Colorado, the goaltending was a wash. Stuart Skinner (who stopped a Jonathan Drouin penalty shot when it was scoreless) was as good as Alexandar Georgiev, who stopped a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins breakaway in OT.
The stars cancelled each other out, with none of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Cale Makar or Nathan MacKinnon notching a single point until the OT winner at the 64:59 mark of the evening. The Avalanche depth forwards appear to have more speed, though they were outscored 2-0 by Edmonton’s depth forwards, with 4C Sam Carrick scoring the 2-1 goal and Warren Foegele opening the scoring for the Oilers.
Meanwhile, Colorado defenceman Sean Walker had the first two-goal game of his career to account for the Avs scoring, a depth feature that can not be overlooked.
What did Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch see?
“Our defensive-zone coverage can be still a little bit tighter, something that's always going to be an emphasis. And the other one was, we didn't have as much time in the offensive zone — just because I don't think we’ve broken the puck out as well,” he observed.
“They had a lot of hard forechecks, and they are disciplined with their systems. But if we cleaned that up and get out of our zone a little bit cleaner, it'll help our defensive play because we won't be spend as much time there.”
Each of Zach Hyman, Cody Ceci and McDavid had a shot at clearing the zone on Colorado’s tying goal late in the third, a sequence that the coach is referencing here.
But if you think the Avalanche didn’t botch a clear or two, you weren’t watching.
Whatever it is that the Oilers have yet to overcome to be a Stanley Cup winner — and not just a contender — it is measured with ruler, not a tape measure.
But whatever that intangible is, it’s like a secret key in a video game.
You won’t get to where you’re going if you don’t find it, whatever it is.
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