The mini road trip is over and the Oilers are back home just in time for some extreme weather (-26 with the Wind Chill and a chance of up to 40cm of snow). And just as the temperature has cooled so has the Oilers PP. Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint when things started to go sour but with the Oilers’ Power Play it was the shorthanded goal against by the Blackhawks. Since that time the Oilers have stopped taking being aggressive with the man-advantage.
Yesterday Eakins took a non-traditional approach to dealing with his PP units by way of taking each unit on their own, no defenders, and running certain plays with them just so they could get a chance to feel how it works. Then he ran that unit off the ice and brought in the next one. It’s about as focused a practice as one could get. There were very few other distractions out there for them. Here’s Eakins on the Practice, "When you're on these road trips, it's more about rest and trying to keep guys fresh. I think it was important just to get those guys on the ice and just reset them. We ran our breakouts that we normally run with a little bit more detail on where we were going to be. Then in-zone we went right to the basics of the power play, the very basics of it and encouraged them to move the puck a little bit quicker, they were in the right spots and boy did they look good on 5-on-0."
This is all about basics. These players are so skilled that they can try to make their entries and decisions way too complicated for their own good. Putting some simplicity back into their plans should help them execute with more frequency. And in hockey the simplest plays are usually the most effective, and more often than not they just require some puck battle and courage to stand in there. I think I speak for us all that when I say that zone entries could probably use fewer toe drags and more straightforward plays.
One of the things I will be watching this game will be the one-two punch of Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Together they lead the Phoenix defense in scoring and Time On Ice. As someone who has harped on the puck moving skills of the D group in Edmonton, Phoenix’ situation on the backend creates a lot of envy for me. I would happily take either of those two off of Phoenix’ hands. Would Phoenix do it? I think they would need to go into a nosedive from here to the trade deadline before they would even consider it. New ownership for the Coyotes want playoff revenue and trading away good players for younger ones probably isn’t the right path to that goal.
LINEUPS
The Oilers are tweaking lines 2-4 for tonight’s game. Arcobello is being moved up to a spot with Yak and Perron. I like this line. If Yak has his skating legs for this game then maybe he can start producing at even strength. Eakins also has a “heavier… 4th line as he’s teamed up Smyth, Acton, and Joensuu. That is a group made for the corners but we need to see them leave their own zone first. Grebeshkov is still playing NHL games. Thus concludes the humour section of this post. Obviously Dubnyk will be playing. He looked good in relief the other night and he has a lot to prove even if he’s on record saying he still believes he’s the Number 1.
Hall RNH Eberle Yak Arco Perron Jones Gagner Hemsky Smyth Acton Joensuu
Grebeshkov J. Schultz Ference Petry N. Schultz Belov
Dubnyk
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Get Shots Through. That was part of the message to Jultz for his PP work. Rebounds are good too, they don’t have to all be snipes top shelf from no-look passes. The Oilers had 11 missed shots against the Stars, compare that with just 2 for the Stars themselves. Picking the top corner and missing wide has to become something that is unacceptable. Those pucks usually end up creating chances the other way too. Something on the goalie may not always result in a juicy rebound, but it probably isn’t coming right back the other way either.
2) More From Line 2. Yak has no points in his last 4 games. The Oilers need him contributing. He’s a young man learning the ins and outs of the NHL still, but he needs to produce. Perron should be able to help him do that. I’m looking for Yak to get infected by that greasy style of play that Perron has in him. Yak’s competitive fire is there, he just needs to channel it better. Arcobello can also help that. His shot is AHL caliber but his effort and smarts aren’t in question.
3) Quick Starts. Neither the Coyotes nor the Oilers have been able to bring it in the 1st periods of their games. The Yotes have just 1 first period goal in their last 5 games. It’s imperative the Oilers pounce on this because from periods 2 onwards Phoneix does alright for itself.
Puck drops tonight at 7:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy