Scenes Morning Skate: At least the Edmonton Oilers aren\u2019t the Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n
Life\u2019s tough right now for the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>. Connor McDavid\u2019s historic point streak ended on Thursday, the team still hasn\u2019t won three consecutive games, and it\u2019s cold in Edmonton. But at least they aren\u2019t those guys.The Vancouver Canucks<\/a> are fully embracing the rebuild at this point. #EmbracetheTank is trending on Instagram among Canucks<\/a> fans, and we can all be sure the Oilers will hear \u201cTank For McKenna\u201d chanted throughout Rogers Arena tonight. It\u2019s that kind of season in Vancouver.<\/p>\n Normally, I\u2019d tell you that it doesn\u2019t matter how bad the other team is doing \u2014 the Oilers should always be ready. And that\u2019s still partly true, but in a more lax version. This time, I\u2019m saying the Oilers should play a good game, but we can all chill a little.<\/p>\n Vancouver is bad. They\u2019re not just struggling \u2014 they\u2019re actively tanking. The front office has essentially told fans that this season is about the future, not the present. The roster is a mix of young players getting development time and veterans who know they\u2019re playing out the string. The energy in Rogers Arena reflects that. Fans aren\u2019t expecting wins. They\u2019re expecting high draft picks.<\/p>\n For the Oilers, this should be a straightforward two points. Vancouver doesn\u2019t have the depth to match up with Edmonton\u2019s top lines. They don\u2019t have the goaltending to stop McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Hyman. They\u2019re icing lineups designed to lose games, not win them.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean the Oilers can coast. Vancouver still has NHL players who can capitalize if Edmonton gets sloppy. Tanking teams can still win games \u2014 they just don\u2019t win consistently, or a lot. The Oilers need to play smart, avoid turnovers, and not give Vancouver free chances. But the urgency level doesn\u2019t need to be through the roof.<\/p>\n This is the kind of game where the Oilers should be able to control the pace, get their top players going, and build some confidence. McDavid\u2019s point streak may be over, but he\u2019s still playing at an absurd level. Draisaitl is heating up. Hyman\u2019s scoring from eight inches away. The pieces are there for Edmonton to dominate.<\/p>\n The bigger concern is complacency. When you\u2019re facing a team openly tanking, it\u2019s easy to assume the win will come without effort. That\u2019s when bad habits creep in. Lazy turnovers. Half-hearted backchecks. Assuming the other team will just roll over. Vancouver may be bad, but they\u2019re still professional hockey players. If the Oilers give them opportunities, they\u2019ll take them.<\/p>\n The good news is that Edmonton\u2019s been playing well lately, even if the results haven\u2019t always gone their way. They got goalied by Sorokin. They lost tight games they could have won. They\u2019re not a team struggling with effort or structure \u2014 they\u2019re a team dealing with bad bounces and tough matchups. Vancouver is neither of those things.<\/p>\n So yeah, the Oilers should play a good game tonight. They should be sharp, disciplined, and focused. But we can all relax a little too. This isn\u2019t a must-win against a playoff contender. This is a game against a team actively trying to lose for draft positioning.<\/p>\n The Oilers are in second place. McDavid will start another point streak. Life\u2019s not that bad. And at least you\u2019re not the ones chanting \u201cTank For McKenna\u201d in your own building.<\/p>\n Podkolzin-McDavid-Hyman<\/p>\n Frederic-RNH-Kapanen<\/p>\n Howard-Roslovic-Savoie<\/p>\n Mangiapane-Lazar-Janmark<\/p>\n Ekholm-Bouchard<\/p>\n Nurse-Emberson<\/p>\n Walman-Stastney<\/p>\n Jarry<\/p>\n ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scenes Morning Skate: At least the Edmonton Oilers aren\u2019t the Vancouver Canucks Life\u2019s tough right now for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-416335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416335","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=416335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}