Game 17 Review – That’s How You Start A Road Trip

I look at most road trips in a very simple way – if you come out with .500 record then the trip was pretty damn good. So with that in mind it’s always nice to start a road trip out with a win. When you pick up that opening game win, there is just a little less pressure on the team going into the next games on the trip.

Now it may or may not in fact be true that early wins on a road trip help the team on the rest of the trip, but I can guarantee that last nights 5-3 win over the Avalanche did help boost the confidence of the Oilers.

Getting a win after dropping your previous five on the road is good for the confidence. Picking up a win over a team that was previously undefeated on home ice is good for the confidence. Getting that win without your best player – Hemsky – is good for the confidence. Getting some production from players who have been struggling to score is good for the confidence.

What might be the best news for Oiler fans is the type of game that the Oilers played last night. It was just about as simple as you could make it. In the offensive zone the Oilers just kept getting the puck and bodies to the net; in the defensive zone they minimized the second chances in front of Khabibulin and kept their breakout passes short. Across the board these are things the Oilers have not done well over the last two or three weeks.

The shots on net are something that I really hope the Oilers continue to do. Last nights win was almost a carbon copy of how other teams have beaten the Oilers this season – lots of shots and picking up some ugly goals. I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty.

Last night the Oilers registered more than 30 shots on goal for only the fourth time this year. With the win last night they’ve now won three of those games; the only loss was on opening night when a bad bounce cost them a point.

Beyond the wins and losses, the team has averaged 4.8 goals/game when they register 30 plus shots and just 2.4 goals/game when they don’t. I may not know everything there is to know about hockey but I do know that scoring more goals than your opponent is critical to winning games. And without a doubt there are nights when shots won’t equate to goals every night but it is really hard to score if you don’t shoot.

In some way this simpler game wasn’t completely surprising. There are a lot of times when I feel that some of the Oilers depend on him too much to provide their scoring. When he is taken out of the lineup the players left seem to understand better that winning a game takes a full team effort not just one person. Earlier this season Chris Telford looked at this same situation with the Thrashers and the injury to Kovalchuk.

I certainly want Hemsky back in the lineup as soon as possible but the reminder to the rest of the lineup that his absence might provide could turn out to be a very good thing. If they can learn that lesson and keep winning games that would be even better.

The play last night of the recently recalled Oilers, Potulny and Reddox, was also a pleasant surprise for Oiler fans. Potulny managed to score a goal and added an assist; Reddox made a good play on the Oilers fifth goal and was rewarded with an assist. That level of production isn’t something that Oiler fans should expect on a nightly basis from these two players but it was a nice contribution on a night when the Oilers were significantly short handed.

Up next for the Oilers are the Senators and Sabres on Tuesday and Wednesday. Deslauriers will almost certainly get the start in one of those two games, my gut says it will be tomorrow against the Sens but we will have to wait and see for sure.