There’s something about ending a road trip with a victory, no mater how things had gone before that, that can have a salvaging effect. When that win sends a team home at .500?
Well, pop us a cold one.
In their final road game before spending nearly the entire month of March at home, the Edmonton Oilers completed a season sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a workmanlike 2-1 victory. It wasn’t pretty — and it didn’t have to be.
Here are our takeaways:
• We’ve wondered aloud as much (or more) than most about whatever happened to 2011 No. 1 overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who just doesn’t seem to play with the skill and flare at age 23 that he did at 19 and 20. But on a night when goals were scarce RNH had two assists and played an honest 19:07.
He was good, and we’ll see down the stretch run — when teams really need the points — how the battle level reflects on Nugent-Hopkins’ game. We forget he’s only 23, but he’s also got almost 400 games under his belt. This spring will tell the tale as far as RNH’s long-term place in Edmonton.
• I don’t think there is anyone left in the hockey world who would question the decision to make Connor McDavid the captain in Edmonton. The level of determination he played with Tuesday oozed leadership, in one of those games the Oilers captain looked like he simply refused to let his team lose.
He had an assist and went plus-one in over 22 minutes, firing five shots on net. Like Crosby, he’s learning how to lead even when points are scarce.
• We can’t say that St. Louis looked deflated one day after general manager Doug Armstrong declared his team a seller by trading away defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk. But knowing a bit about how NHL players think, a roster that was loaded for a long Cup run 12 months ago must have privately realized that things aren’t the same in the spring of ’17.
It’s reality in St. Louis: They’re not going for it this year. You have to believe that takes a bit of the edge off the average Blues player.
[relatedlinks]
• The Oilers can defend now.
In the telling statistic that is “goals differential,” the Oilers went from minus-42 at the end of last season, to plus-16. That’s a swing of 58 goals in three-quarters of a season, and is the reason Edmonton has become a playoff lock, sitting ninth in the NHL’s overall standings. As much as we hate to say it, if you can’t win the 2-1 game, you can’t thrive in the NHL.
The old Oilers couldn’t win that game. This year’s edition does it fairly frequently.
• So Edmonton is ensconced in a playoff spot, though the Calgary Flames could still catch them from behind and relegate the Oilers to a wildcard position. Edmonton has completed the rough patch in the schedule, however, and are going to be hard to gain ground on in March.
The Oilers play 13 games in March, with 11 of those at home. Eight are against teams not currently in playoff spots, though two are against L.A. and one versus the Islanders. They have one set of back-to-back games, marking their only March road trip.
So the two points in St. Louis and a .500 road trip were nice. They’ll be even nicer if the Oilers can play .700 hockey at home.
