ENJOY IT

7 years ago

No, the Edmonton Oilers aren’t going to win five out of every six games they play the rest of this season and finish with something in the neighborhood of 130 points despite getting off to their best start through a half-dozen games since 1985-86.

The pace the Oilers are on after collaring the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 outdoors Sunday isn’t sustainable, to use a popular buzz-phrase of the times. Not by this team. Not by any team, with the exception of the Montreal Canadiens, who set the NHL standard with 132 points in 1976-77, and the Detroit Red Wings, who had 131 in 1995-96. These Oilers are not them. You know that. I know that.

Gosh, thanks Captain Obvious. The thing is, the fact this pace won’t last is perfectly OK. After 10 long years out of the playoffs and some truly wretched stretches during that span of ineptitude, I get it why some fans of the Oilers look at this start with suspicious eyes. The Oilers have shown promise before, teasing the faithful, only to dash your hopes time after time. Kind of like Lucy van Pelt yanking the football away from Charlie Brown.

That said, the 10 points the Oilers have through these first six games are in the bank — it took them 13 games to reach 10 points last season and 14 games in 2014-15 – and no matter what happens the rest of way, nobody can take them away. To this point, the Oilers are off to the kind of start everybody said they had to put together through the first month of the season. I say take a break from angst and sit back and enjoy this for what it is. There are 76 games left to worry about what might go wrong, about questions that still remain, about unsustainable and blah, blah, blah.

THIS LOOKS DIFFERENT

Through six games, this edition of the Oilers looks different to me than the teams that have put together brief stretches of success in the last decade. Jason Gregor touched on some of what he’s seen in his item Monday. Three aspects stand out for me so far – the Oilers are getting more balanced scoring, they’re getting more offense from the blue line, where they’ve been sadly wanting too often in recent years, and they haven’t had to depend on out-of-this-world goaltending from Cam Talbot to win games.

The bottom-line number that stands out for me is Edmonton’s goal-differential. In 2015-16, the Oilers scored 203 goals and allowed 245 to finish minus-42. Through their first half-dozen games this season they’ve scored 23 goals and allowed 16 for a plus-seven. Yes, it’s early, but improving in goal differential is one stat almost everybody had circled before the season started.

I said before the season started that cutting down that differential by 30-35 goals was a reasonable expectation. It still is, and they’re plus-seven so far despite a power play that is clicking at a 16.7 per cent pace compared to 18.1 last season – the penalty kill has been tremendous so far with at 87.0 (compared to 81.1 last season). If the Oilers can break even the rest of the way when you take into account special teams and even-strength scoring, they’re going to be in a lot of games and they’re going to win some of them.

This tidy little three-game win streak the Oilers have put together since a 6-2 hummer against Buffalo behind some stellar work by Talbot will get a test when the Washington Capitals come calling Wednesday, but the bottom line is this work-in-progress has an opportunity to be 6-1 through seven games and 5-2 at worst. I’d have taken that when the season started, wouldn’t you? Of course it’s not going to last. Enjoy it for what it is.

WHILE I’M AT IT

Not sure about you, but I’ve really liked what I’ve seen out of Zack Kassian so far. He’s scored 2-2-4 through six games, but more than that, Kassian’s not only been hard on the puck as usual, he looks so much quicker than he did last season. His commitment to overcoming the off-ice issues that dogged him is paying dividends on the ice. Good for him.

There’s a little more discussion about the Oilers new scoreboard video from local director Michael Maxxis here courtesy of Global News Monday. Maxxis says he’ll be updating the video over the course of the season, so it’s not a finished product yet.

Not sure about you, but the steady stream of outdoor games the NHL has held since 51,167 fans froze their backsides off at the 2003 Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium has taken the shine off the spectacle for me. Maybe that’s to be expected after 19 games, but the novelty has worn off.

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.

ENJOY IT

THIS LOOKS DIFFERENT

WHILE I’M AT IT

RECENTLY BY ROBIN BROWNLEE

Check out these posts...