{"id":268921,"date":"2025-11-08T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268921\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T01:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T01:00:13","slug":"oilers-need-to-dig-up-late-season-form-for-measuring-stick-game-vs-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268921\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers need to dig up late-season form for ‘measuring-stick’ game vs. Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a strange personality trait that the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> have developed, as the mighty Colorado Avalanche<\/a> arrive in town for a Saturday night track meet between two of hockey\u2019s fastest teams.<\/p>\n

It makes great sports radio fodder \u2014\u00a0infuriating to fans, and no doubt frustrating for the coaches \u2014\u00a0and goes something like this:<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve played the second most playoff games over the past five years (behind only Florida), those journeys prove to a team that it has what it takes to win it matters most. They\u2019re confident, experienced, and though imperfect, a pretty good team that rolled through the West in 16 games last spring.<\/p>\n

The question is, where does all that experience go when they start up again in the fall?<\/p>\n

As Colorado arrives for a Hockey Night in Canada must-watch on Saturday, we don\u2019t have to spell out the recipe to playing sound hockey or protecting a third-period lead to a team that\u2019s been in back to back Stanley Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

Yet, every October and November the Oilers are like a guy looking for his favorite tuque and gloves on that first snow day, rummaging through the back closet in search of that staple of their game that\u2019s gone missing \u2014\u00a0again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 15 games in,\u201d said captain Connor McDavid<\/a>. \u201cThe start is long, long over. We’re into the meat of the season now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we’re doing. We\u2019ve got to get back to it. It’s time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

This Nov. 7 the Oilers have a 6-5-4 record for 16 points. In the previous four seasons they have accrued 13, 5, 14 and 18 points by Nov. 7.<\/p>\n

So this is actually a pretty\u00a0good\u00a0start in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the best start since I’ve been here, jokingly enough,\u201d said Mattias Ekholm<\/a>. \u201cThere’s no panic. We know what we have in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually Edmonton\u2019s second best start in five season, but somehow it doesn\u2019t feel like there is anything to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far in the season, it’s been a pretty common theme where we can put 20, 30, maybe 40 minutes in some games,\u201d Ekholm said. \u201cBut I’m not sure I’ve seen 60 yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming off of two days away from the ice on Wednesday and Thursday, Edmonton held a lengthy, fast-paced and spirited practice on Friday in preparation for a visit from the only NHL team with just one regulation loss, the 8-1-5 Avalanche.<\/p>\n

After blowing two-goals leads in each of their past two games \u2014\u00a0and a team record six on the season in their first 15 games \u2014\u00a0McDavid was asked when that might become something to talk about with his team. <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess when you’ve done it six times,\u201d McDavid said flatly. \u201cIt’s a fair question, and something that we want to figure out. We\u2019ve done a good job of putting ourselves in some pretty good spots, and haven’t found a way to close them out. That’s an area we’ve got to clean up.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit more desperate, a little more urgency to win games,\u201d McDavid added. \u201cWe’re putting ourselves in good spots \u2014\u00a0we’re not closing them out. That’s a thing we’re normally pretty good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Normally. There\u2019s that word again.<\/p>\n

Normally an Oilers team that led St. Louis 2-0 for much of the game finds the third goal to put an opponent away.<\/p>\n

Normally, an Oilers team that stretched its lead to 3-1 at Dallas with 12 minutes to play can put the hammer down on the two points, cash an empty netter and walk away with a regulation win.<\/p>\n

\"3232 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n

Now the Avalanche roll into town, equally rested after not having played since beating Tampa 3-2 in Denver on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to squint too hard to see the possibility of a Western Conference Final between these two teams, and this is the first of three meetings this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great challenge for us, something that’s got our attention. We’re excited to go,\u201d McDavid said of the Avs.<\/p>\n

Stuart Skinner starts in net, with Mattias Janmark a \u201cpossibility\u201d to return from injury for the game, according to head coach Kris Knoblauch. Zach Hyman is expected back \u201cwithin a week,\u201d but won\u2019t play against the Avs.<\/p>\n

The beauty of a game like this?<\/p>\n

Edmonton has no choice but to dig up their May game, or the Avalanche will embarrass them on home ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there’s one thing I know about this group, whether we have our backs against the wall or (whatever), when we’re playing really good teams, that brings the best out of us,\u201d Ekholm said. \u201cI\u2019m excited for that type of game \u2014\u00a0Hockey Night in Canada, all the things you can ask for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a good measuring stick for us as well. We know they’ve had a good start to the season, but usually we have really good games against them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a strange personality trait that the Edmonton Oilers have developed, as the mighty Colorado Avalanche arrive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-268921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}