NASHVILLE — Derek Ryan looked around at the small contingent of Edmonton media here in Nashville. Nobody’s hair was on fire. No one was firing a coach or demanding wholesale changes.
At least in his immediate vicinity.
“I don’t pay attention too much to the ups and downs of the media, or the Twitterverse,” he admitted. “I’m not sure what’s being said after the game last night.”
It is the beautiful eccentricity of a Canadian market, that during a 5-1 loss in Minnesota this tweet could come across one’s timeline
Well, might as well cash the season in right now then, eh? Still time to get the clubs re-gripped before the courses open up.
Yes, here we are. At that intersection between over reaction and genuine concern.
Since the Meltdown in Cowtown — the 9-5 loss where the Flames scored nine even strength goals on Edmonton — the Oilers have posted a 6-0-1 mark, including a pair of wins over divisional rival Los Angeles, another over St. Louis, and a shootout loss to Colorado.
Their loss in Minnesota left the Oilers with a 12-3-2 record in their past 17 games. That’s 20 percent of the season, and Edmonton played .765 hockey over that span.
But you lose one, and they’re falling off the bandwagon like the drunken young ladies on those open-air stagette busses that roll up and down Broadway here.
“You look at the hockey we’ve played over the last two months, it’s been really solid,” said defenceman Tyson Barrie.
“We know the majority of it is really good hockey and we’re getting the results we want. So, you know, you lose a game like that and you just have to recover.
“If it was flipped — if we were (3-12-2) — you'd be having some issues. But we’re a confident team, we know the type of hockey we can play, and when we’re playing it how we feel. We’ve just got to get back to that.”
Losing the way Edmonton lost in Minny doesn’t sting as badly as giving up a late goal in a 3-2 heart-breaker. Duncan Keith had a very tough night, as did his young partner Evan Bouchard. The pair handed two or three pucks right to the Wild for goals, while offensively it just wasn’t the Oilers’ night with a couple of posts and some prime chances that went un-buried.
Look, Edmonton blew it on Bouchard last season when the team refused to play him in more than just 14 NHL games. The mistakes that could perhaps be in his rear-view mirror are still being learned this season, as he gets set to play NHL game No. 95 Thursday night in Nashville.
He is 22 and has not played 100 games yet. Gong shows like Tuesday in Minnesota are going to happen — you just hope they don’t leave too big a dent in the young lad.
“Bouch has got such a good demeanor about him. It’s water off the duck's back,” said Barrie, who has lived the part. “You have games where it seems like even the simple plays you’re trying to make end up in the wrong hands. It doesn’t seem like anything’s ever going to go your way. We all have those nights, but it does turn.”
It’s funny how two defencemen — one with 94 games and the other with 1,248 under his belt — can both come out and stink the joint out in the same game. In a season where Bouchard has made huge strides, much to the credit of his veteran partner Keith, Tuesday’s game was simply one for the ol’ burn pile.
“Nobody's exempt from those nights,” Barrie said. “So you just try to limit the amount of them. And if you do feel one headed that direction, you try to cut it off. You know, if your bad games or just okay, that’s a good place to get to.”
It’s the microcosm inside the big picture, isn’t it?
In the smaller picture, Bouchard has improved by miles this season. And despite many fans’ perturbance with his AAV, Keith has been an excellent addition as a second pairing D-man.
In the big picture, the Oilers have wrestled second place in the Pacific away from the Kings, and are trending towards finishing second in their division for the third consecutive season. After finishing 11th and 13th in the NHL the past two seasons, they’ll be right back in that neighbourhood despite a season with some precarious injuries.
That doesn’t make them Cup contenders, but it doesn’t make them bums either.
“It’s an 82-game season, and I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position,” said the voice of reason, Zach Hyman. “We’ve been playing really well of late. You don’t want to have blips on the radar but you’re only human. (Minnesota was) one of those things where you get back at it the next day and you make it a blip.
“You go back to playing the way that you can play. We did that after the Calgary game and we’re going to do it again after this one.”
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