Well, when you think about it, it might not be the worst thing \u2014 if it\u2019s not too long an absence\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cOur game is going to take a dip on the offensive side of it, especially on the power play,\u201d admitted head coach Knoblauch, moments after stating that \u2014 though Draisaitl\u2019s examination had not been completed as he spoke \u2014 Knoblauch expected to be without the big German for some or all of the remaining three games of this homestand.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive-on-five, you don’t have one of the best players on the ice playing 20-24 minutes a night. It’s really important that our team simplifies our game,\u201d Knoblauch said. \u201cWe’re not going to be able to score as many goals; we can’t outscore our troubles. So it’s going to be important that we play good defensive hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmonton has already been playing an improved brand of defensive hockey, coupled with the emergence of undisputed No. 1 Connor Ingram in goal. Those two have combined to allow just nine goals in Ingram\u2019s last five starts, and a 4-0-1 record.<\/p>\n
Now, they\u2019ll have to hunker down some more \u2014 which we\u2019ve all learned over the years is the Holy Grail here in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
When you have Edmonton\u2019s firepower, the trick is to split up a lesser amount of scoring chances with your opponent and count on your elite scorers to cash in on one more chance than the other guys. Playing without Draisaitl can only put a finer point on that approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure,\u201d Connor McDavid said of Tuesday\u2019s game against the San Jose Sharks, \u201cwe want to play a solid low-event game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony of the talented Sharks coming to town is that the Sharks are exactly what Edmonton fancied itself to be five or six years ago: a high-flying group of young, skilled players who want to run \u2018n gun through the league, scoring in bunches.<\/p>\n
Edmonton was once that team, and the opponents that gave them the most trouble by far were the ones that did not engage them in track-meet-like games.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you\u2019d go into St. Louis, you were losing 3-1 or 2-1 and just getting beat up the whole night,\u201d Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recalled earlier this season. \u201cL.A. was the same thing. Anaheim. When I first came in Vancouver was tough, with the Sedins. Chicago would outskate you every night\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely nice to be on the other side of it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other side is that the Oilers have learned how to control the pace of a game. Or, at least, they should have learned by now.<\/p>\n
In a Tuesday game that Draisaitl will watch from the press box, defensive specialist Jason Dickinson will pick up many of his minutes.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t look for Dickinson to open his game up as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think that’s how I approach things,\u201d he said. \u201cI stick to my core \u2014 I stick to what I am good at \u2014 because if I deviate, then other things suffer. The defensive side of my game suffers, and that’s not good for anybody.”<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with that said, I am still going to try to elevate my offensive game more, to supplement what’s missing,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I’m not going to take chances just because I’m in a higher role and Leon is missing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not going to start making crazy spin-o-rama plays, because that’s what Leon would do. I’m not going to be that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Draisaitl was injured on a hard but clean hit by Nashville\u2019s Ozzy Weisblatt in Sunday\u2019s 3-1 Oilers win. It\u2019s being called a \u201clower body\u201d injury, though our guess is a knee.<\/p>\n
The Oilers training staff allowed him to attempt an in-game comeback Sunday, which should rule out anything catastrophic. And the Oilers spent much of the evening settling the score with Weisblatt, who was forced to have his head on a swivel for the final 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not the dirtiest check in the world, but it’s just who you hit and the result of it, unfortunately. If you want to hit our top guys, there’s going to be a response,\u201d explained McDavid, who has heard the noise emanating from Toronto after the Radko Gudas knee on Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, there’s been lots of talk about it with Toronto,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cBut every group’s different, and we didn’t love the fact that (Weisblatt) finished the hit so hard on Leo. And Leo didn’t feel very good after. So you\u2019ve got to handle that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Handling Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks will be an entirely different issue, a team that reminds Dickinson a bit of the Blackhawks team he spent the past four seasons with.<\/p>\n
\u201cMacklin, Will Smith, those guys, they’re very high-skilled,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cSo the less you give them, the more frustrated they’re going to get, the more opportunities we’re going to get, the more they’re going to turn pucks over and feed our transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that’s where the game is going to be in our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, when you think about it, it might not be the worst thing \u2014 if it\u2019s not too…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-541706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541706","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=541706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}