Tinam Polo

Senin, 30 Oktober 2023

Adam Johnson: Police probe ice hockey death as fiancée pays tribute - BBC.com

The fiancée of an ice hockey player who was fatally injured during a match has paid tribute to her "sweet angel" as police continue to investigate his death.

Nottingham Panthers' Adam Johnson's neck was cut by a skate during a game against the Sheffield Steelers on Saturday.

Johnson was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His fiancée, Ryan Wolfe, said: "I'll miss you forever and love you always."

South Yorkshire Police, which was called to the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, said it was "normal procedure" to open an investigation when an incident was reported.

A force spokesperson added: "Our officers remain at the scene carrying out inquiries.

"Our investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident remain ongoing.

"We would encourage the public to avoid speculation regarding the incident while we continue our inquiries."

Sheffield City Council confirmed its health and safety team is assisting with the investigation.

Councillor Joe Otten said: "Firstly, our thoughts are with Adam's family, friends and teammates at this very sad and difficult time.

"Our health and safety team is helping South Yorkshire Police with their investigation and will assist wherever necessary."

Neck guards mandatory

Following Johnson's death, the English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA) - which oversees all levels of ice hockey in the England below the Elite League - has issued safety advice to all members regarding the use of neck guards.

BBC Sport understands Johnson was not wearing a neck guard.

The EIHA said it was "unacceptable" for any player to lose their life while playing ice hockey.

With immediate effect, it has issued a "strong recommendation" that all players at all levels across English ice hockey use an approved neck guard.

The advice is in place until the start of 2024, when it will become a mandatory requirement.

The EIHA also said it would undertake a player safety equipment review, considering all aspects of player safety equipment including - but not limited to - the use of helmets, gumshields and facial protection.

Compulsory guards are already in place in the likes of Finland and Sweden, while Germany's top flight, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, is also reportedly considering their introduction for the new season.

National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) team Oxford City Stars - which have former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech on their roster - have already announced their players must wear neck guards at all times on the ice.

On Monday evening, the Elite Ice Hockey League said all fixtures scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday would be postponed.

The league said matches would return at the weekend for all teams, except the Panthers and Steelers.

In a statement, the league said: "Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers will not return to the ice this weekend and we would continue to ask everyone to support these clubs through what is an intensely difficult time."

Tributes have been paid across the world to Johnson including from Nottingham, his home in Minnesota in the US, and a number of his former clubs including the Pittsburgh Penguins in North America's National Hockey League (NHL).

Kevin Moore, assistant coach with the Panthers, has spoken to fans outside Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena where they play their home games.

He said: "As time goes on, we're all going to heal but we're going to do it together.

"Our group is strong, and they're connected and we're going to do you guys proud."

On Sunday, Johnson's teammates and fans left flowers outside the arena.

Analysis

By Peter Spencer, the BBC's Sheffield Steelers reporter

I tend to move around the arena depending on which period it is, so in the second period when this freak accident occurred, I was standing at ice level right behind the Nottingham Panthers goal.

I was looking through the plexiglass and saw a collision. The Steelers' doctor and the physio from the Panthers were straight out on to the ice to attend to him, then paramedics arrived. There were also some fans who were trauma nurses and medical professionals locally in Sheffield, who were allowed on to the ice by the stewards to help.

Johnson subsequently received CPR on the ice and it was at that point that Steelers' captain Robert Dowd got both sets of players to form a ring around him.

I've been covering ice hockey in Sheffield for 11 years and to see how the players were visibly affected, the staff and the management of both teams, it was awful to see and certainly not an incident that I ever have seen the like of, and I hope I never see the like of again.

Meanwhile, in the US, Pittsburgh Penguins said in a statement they joined "the entire hockey world in mourning the loss of Adam Johnson, whose life tragically ended far too soon".

Johnson's former teams - University of Minnesota's Duluth Bulldogs, Ontario Reign, Minnesota Wild and Malmö Redhawks - also paid tribute.

Redhawks chief executive Patrik Sylvegård said: "It was very tragic to hear about Adam's passing and our thoughts of course go out to Adam's family and close relatives at this difficult time."

Sheffield Hallam University said the death "shocked the community".

In a post on Facebook, it added: "We know there were students and staff at the game, and we're directly supporting everyone who makes contact, as well as making sure anyone who has been affected by the incident knows where they can get help."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

Connor McDavid’s return sparks the Oilers

Connor McDavid may have had only one assist in his return from a two-game absence because of an upper-body injury, but his presence was certainly felt for the Oilers. McDavid had Edmonton’s first great chance of the night when he cut in off the right wing, nearly beating Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom. He then recorded a secondary helper on Evan Bouchard’s bomb from the point before the end of the first period.

Playing mostly with running mate Leon Draisaitl and upstart winger Warren Foegele, McDavid drove play at five-on-five. The Oilers outscored the Flames 2-1 in 18:15 with the Oilers captain on the ice in that capacity. He had a 67.2 expected goals percentage, too.

McDavid’s had better performances to be sure. But he did more than enough to help the Oilers secure their first win in five games and their first home win of the season. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman, Oilers beat writer

Penalty trouble hinders Edmonton

The penalty kill had been one of many sore spots for the Oilers entering the Heritage Classic. It had been responsible for seven goals against in as many games and was working at a 74.1 percent clip — 25th in the NHL.

Its effectiveness was the same, but don’t get things confused. It saved the Oilers’ bacon on Sunday.

The Oilers sent the Flames to power play eight times, the result of careless and undisciplined infractions. Included in that mix were a pair of two-man advantages, one that spanned 1:21 and the other 1:27.

Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft felt the penalty issues were the only reason the Flames gained any traction in the game.

The Oilers allowed one goal on the second of them, and another on a four-on-five in the middle period — both tallies coming just before penalties were about to expire. They shut the Flames down on the other six opportunities.

Not only that, but the Oilers scored on a two-on-one rush right after the first two-man disadvantage ended. Draisaitl came out of the penalty box to set up Zach Hyman for their second goal of the game. — Nugent-Bowman

Flames continue losing streak

The Flames needed a win, badly, against their provincial rival. They were coming off a poor week with disappointing losses to the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Rangers and the St. Louis Blues. The latter of which saw them fail to mount a comeback following a 2-0 deficit and a third period that broke their “will.” Sunday’s result began with a first period where the Flames had no control of the game. Their second period saw a bit more resiliency. But their final period displayed a massive problem: their inability to finish is costing them games. — Julian McKenzie, Flames beat writer

Calgary’s stars aren’t padding the stats

In order for the Flames to emerge from their slide, they needed their best players to play like their best players. Some players can at least find their names on the scoresheet. Nazem Kadri entered Sunday’s game with just one assist in his last eight games and was in desperate need to ramp up his production. His power-play goal will help. MacKenzie Weegar had one goal in eight games. He responded with two primary assists. It was also hard to fault Markstrom for the goals he allowed and the most important thing is that he remained solid afterward.

The problem is, they need more.

Jonathan Huberdeau contributed an assist, but that’s as far as his contributions went. Elias Lindholm has no points in his last four games. — McKenzie

Required reading

(Photo: Derek Leung / Getty Images)

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2023-10-30 03:09:34Z
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Minggu, 29 Oktober 2023

Toronto Argos make history with 27-22 win over Ottawa Redblacks - The Globe and Mail

The Toronto Argonauts had already punched their ticket to the East Division Final but were determined to finish the CFL regular season on a high.

They did just that beating the Ottawa Redblacks 27-22 to win its franchise-record 16th game Saturday night at TD Place.

Adding to their impressive 16-2 season record was the fact they finished the season with a perfect divisional record of 10-0, a CFL first.

“It’s pretty impressive, right?” said Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. “It’s a long season to go through all the ups and downs and different battles and I’m just so proud of that room.”

The Redblacks (4-14) are at the opposite end of the spectrum, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Toronto has more wins this season than the Redblacks 14 over the past four seasons.

Ottawa didn’t beat a division rival once this season.

“I felt this game was a microcosm of our whole season,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “Showed the fight that the team had consistently throughout the year, but at the same time some of the challenges we faced showed as well.

“We’re tired of being the team that tries hard or is close, right. We have to execute and make the plays that we need to make at all times and we just didn’t find ways to do that tonight and through the season.”

The Argonauts will have next week off as they watch to see who wins the East semifinal between Hamilton and Montreal.

“The regular season is over now and now it’s time to play big-boy football in the playoffs,” said Dinwiddie. “You throw all the records out the window and now we’ve got to find a way to win the next game.”

The Argonauts sat a number of their starters, including QB Chad Kelly, but Toronto’s depth shone through.

Cameron Dukes finished the game 22-of-34 passing for 317 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Ottawa’s Dustin Crum was 22-of-35 for 261 yards with two TD’s and two interceptions.

The one highlight for the Redblacks was Devonte Williams reaching 1,003 yards for his first-ever 1,000-yard season.

Williams will be looking for a new contract next season and this is a nice stat to point to. Williams almost fell short of the milestone, but with 41 seconds remaining had a seven-yard gain to hit the mark.

“It meant a lot to me and to the guys around me as well,” said Williams after the game, holding his nine-month-old son. “It’s a collective effort and we all appreciate it.”

Toronto took the lead in the first quarter and never looked back, but the Redblacks did fight to the end.

Ottawa outscored the Argonauts 16-13 in the second half, but an eight-point deficit at the half was the difference.

“Obviously they’re a good team and when you make as many mistakes as we did and didn’t execute well enough you’re not going to be able to come out on the right side of it very often,” said Crum.

“We’ve just got to start faster as an offence. Defence gave us some opportunities early that we didn’t capitalize on.”

Ottawa’s Michael Domagala scored his third field goal, from 46 yards out, midway through the third to bring Ottawa within five, but a late two-yard TD by Toronto’s Deonta McMahon made it 21-9.

Boris Bede added a 37-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to give Toronto a 24-9 lead sending many of the Ottawa faithful for the gates.

Crum picked up his first TD of the game connecting with Justin Hardy for a 30-yard pass with 6:21 remaining, but any hope of a comeback was dashed by Bede’s 38-yard field goal to put the Argos up 27-16.

Ottawa made it look closer than it was with Keaton Bruggeling scoring his first CFL TD by connecting with Crum for a 16-yard pass.

“It was so surreal,” admitted Bruggeling. “All year working hard, all of last year working so hard thinking about every touchdown celebration in the whole wide world. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

The difference in this one was the Argos jumping to a 14-0 lead on a pair of first quarter TDs.

“We talked about it in the locker room, the importance of starting out fast,” said Dukes. “We mentioned if we didn’t start fast, we’d find a way in the end. We trust in the guys around us and it’s a great team that we’ve got.”

Ottawa’s Alonzo Addae picked off Dukes early in the first quarter but on the next play the Argos came right back with Mason Pierce picking off Crum to run back a 35-yard TD.

With two minutes left in the quarter Dukes connected with Dejon Brissett, who was left all alone, for a 61-yard TD pass.

Ottawa managed to get down to Toronto’s 10-yard line, but settled for a 24-yard field goal early in the second quarter to get on the board. Domagala added a 39-yard field goal at the end of the half to get the Redblacks within eight.

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2023-10-29 15:03:15Z
2568822136

Evolving Canucks ace yet another test in OT loss to Rangers - Sportsnet.ca

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2023-10-29 07:02:00Z
2525810528

Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens shade the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout - Montreal | Globalnews.ca - Global News

The Montreal Canadiens have played five games in eight nights, and it has been a good stretch in terms of both results and development.

General manager Kent Hughes has much to be pleased with as his blue line of the future is taking shape.

The Winnipeg Jets were in town on Saturday night with the Canadiens stealing that one in a shootout, 4-3. It is only two losses in eight games this season for Montreal.

Wilde Horses

One aspect of the rebuild that is easy to appreciate is Martin St. Louis’ desire to improve playing a creative and enjoyable brand of hockey.

Often when a head coach knows that he is outmanned for talent, he will try to take the game out of the game. Jacques Martin would make sure the final shots were 18-15 with five players defending throughout.

That makes the coach look good to keep it competitive, but it doesn’t help the player learn how to play the brand of hockey that wins cups and playoff series.

The right way to play hockey these days is, five players can attack and five players can defend. It’s “total” hockey in 2023, and it’s infinitely more exciting than the dead puck era when the league’s scoring champion didn’t even have a point-per-game season.

Wilde Goats

Juraj Slafkovsky must start shooting the puck. When they drafted him first, they believed that he had a quality shot. They believed he could score at the NHL level.

As Wayne Gretzky said, “You don’t score on 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take,” and Slafkovsky refuses to take shots.

In his rookie season, Slafkovsky had 42 shots in 39 games before getting injured. Essentially, a shot per game. This season, he has eight shots in eight games.

To have success in the NHL as a scorer, a player will have a shooting percentage of 10 per cent as a minimum standard. That means you need 240 shots, or three per game, to have a 25-goal season. If a player gets only one shot per game, all other things reverting to the mean average, that’s an eight-goal season.

In the first period, Slafkovsky was on the power play, and the Jets were clearly playing him to pass. He had a clean lane to the net, but simply refused to take the puck to the goal to take a shot. He saucer passed the puck back instead, through the Jets player cheating to cover the Habs defenceman. The pass was still a foot off the ice and it left the offensive zone.

This is likely a confidence issue. It could also be a hockey instinct issue, but not likely. He knows to go to the net, but he just couldn’t make his mind go there successfully. He wasn’t ready.

Slafkovsky is getting more touches. He is winning far more puck battles. He is improving as a player, and, of course, he is extremely young still. Guaranteed, though, Gretzky would note that Slafkovsky is not going to score on an impossible saucer pass that goes to centre ice.

Three shots per game is the goal. For now, winning puck battles and getting touches are the first two phases of development, and that is coming along. However, at some point, he’s got to take some shots. He’s a forward trying to score goals. Simple concept to success.

Click to play video: 'Call of the Wilde!'

4:23 Call of the Wilde!

Wilde Cards

The Buffalo Sabres are a good example for the Canadiens of how not to complete a rebuild. The Sabres are full of young talent, but, somehow, they forgot to have a goalie ready for the last two seasons. The Sabres should be in the playoffs this year. They should have been in the playoffs last season as well. They have some outstanding talent all over the ice, except the crease.

They were waiting for Devon Levi this season, but it is too much too soon. A GM can’t ask a goalie to go straight from college to the NHL — not as a reliable number one. The road to being comfortable in the NHL is a long one for goalies with 24 a respectable arrival age. Some work in the AHL and then an NHL back-up role for a goalie like Levi is a fair expectation.

However, the Sabres didn’t just over-rely on Levi. The other two Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are also not experienced. There isn’t a .900 save percentage in the entire organization.

Adding to the Sabres’ woes, Comrie and Levi are both injured. Luukkonen and his .881 will try to keep the ship righted. However, a word to the wise, you have to score five goals in an average 30-shot game to win when your goalie is an .881. The Sabres are good, but they’re not that good.

Enter Jake Allen.

The Canadiens have a goaltending issue they need to sort out. Allen is the Sabres’ best option in the NHL presently. Buffalo needs to find a veteran. They’re not interested in seeing if Samuel Montembeault can string together a second straight quality season, and they obviously don’t need another uncertainty in Cayden Primeau. Allen has been through the wars.

If the Sabres don’t get a goalie soon, it’s another year of underachievement and frustration for long-suffering fans. Buffalo’s plight is also a warning to the Canadiens rebuild attempt: the goalie comes last, but don’t completely forget to have a good one ready.

The next move is yours, Buffalo. Seasons slip away fast.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

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2023-10-29 02:38:43Z
2570005761

Josi scores in OT to give Predators win against Maple Leafs - NHL.com

Ryan O'Reilly scored twice, Evangelista and Filip Forsberg each had two assists and Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Predators (4-4-0).

“They’re a great team on the other side, but I thought we went toe-to-toe with them all night,” Forsberg said. “It was a pretty even hockey match. I’m sure [people] enjoyed watching it. We had a good time playing it as well. I thought we played overtime about as good as you can in this league and kept the puck and wore them down. A great goal by [Josi].”

William Nylander scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs (5-2-1), who ended their five-game road trip 3-1-1.

“It’s an important point for us,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I liked how our guys stayed with it. A few posts, a few missed breakaways. It’s that close to being able to get another two [points] here tonight. But I think there’s a lot of good things to take away from this game and really, through this trip. There’s a lot of good things that we can take back home with us.”

Nylander gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 13:32 of the first period with a power-play goal on a one-timer off a pass by Auston Matthews. He has 12 points (six goals, six assists) during an eight-game point streak.

“I think we built a good stretch here of games and established how we want to play for the most part on the road trip,” Nylander said. “Bring that home with us.”

O’Reilly tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal of his own at 15:05 of the first period. He took the puck to the net from the end boards and slid a shot five-hole on Samsonov.

Mark Giordano gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at 12:46 of the second period, poking a loose puck into the net to the right of Saros.

O’Reilly scored his second power-play goal to tie it 2-2 at 15:08 of the second period, redirecting a shot pass by Forsberg past Samsonov.

“It feels good for sure,” O’Reilly said. “The first one was a little lucky. I kind of fanned on it and it ended up in the net. But especially two for the power play, it’s so important. Our first three games of the season we did some great 5-on-5 things and just couldn’t bury a power play. It was nice to get them like that. If we are going to have success, we’ve got to step up on the power play.”

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2023-10-29 04:07:30Z
2569790839

Sabtu, 28 Oktober 2023

Oilers need to be quicker of foot, of hand, and of head - Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Oilers were frequently outnumbered around the puck on Thursday. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia

No matter how one looked at it, Edmonton Oilers’ performance against New York Rangers was nowhere near good enough. I can vouch for that twice over, having attended the game in person on Thursday night, then reviewed the entire contest — all 3,600 agonizing seconds of it — on PVR Friday morning.

The live experience started well enough with the celebration of Oilers Hall of Famers Charlie Huddy and Doug Weight, but turned sour once the puck dropped. The home side was second best in virtually all aspects of the game as they fell 3-0 to the (excellent!) Rangers. A chorus of boos provided the musical accompaniment to the final buzzer.

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With the richly-deserved defeat, the Oilers record dropped to 1-5-1 in the young season. Their .214 points percentage ranks them 31st in the 32-team league, ahead of only the execrable San Jose Sharks (0-7-1 = .063). Likewise, the Oil’s startling -13 goal differential is ahead of San Jose’s brutal -24 but worse than every other NHL club. Their high-powered offence ranks a lowly 26th with just 2.43 goals per game after leading the league comfortably a season ago at 3.96 G/GP. And their 4.29 goals against per game is currently dead last in the NHL, this after finishing middle of the pack at 3.12 in 2022-23.

Just 7 games into the new season the Oilers have already lost 4 games by 3 or more goals. Doing some quick math, that’s over half of their contests to date. Last season they suffered just 9 such defeats over the entire 82-game slate.

What’s going on?

It’s not entirely fair to judge the Oilers during the current absence of three-time Hart Trophy recipient Connor McDavid. We’ll pull our punches a little though not a lot given the locals were already 1-3-1 and skating in sand by the time the captain got sidelined. His absence has has been all too apparent the last two games, when the Oilers were outskilled 7-4 by Minnesota Wild, then outclassed 3-0 by NYR.

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To my eye in the end zone high above the visitors’ net, Edmonton was not quick enough against NYR. The Rangers outskated the Oil, especially noticeable in transition where they generated a number of odd-man rushes and open looks. By our analysis at the Cult of Hockey, New York generated 9 Grade A shots and the game’s only 2 even-strength goals off the rush while the Oilers created 5 and 0 respectively. This has been an issue at both ends of the sheet all season, in which the Oilers have been outscored 13-4 off the rush, McDavid or no McDavid.

Doesn’t help of course that a few other Oilers are less than 100% physically. Mattias Ekholm and Ryan McLeod missed the entirety of training camp, and both have endured slow starts. Brett Kulak is another who has been off his game after missing the last few preseason contests. Connor Brown is playing his first games in a calendar year after ACL surgery, and has been struggling to come around in the early going.

It’s not merely foot speed where the Oil are lacking. Their hands have continually let them down in frittering away opportunities. On Thursday Mattias Janmark was unable to convert an early great chance from close range. Before the first period was over, a similar fate had befallen Dylan Holloway, Evander Kane and Brown (twice). It’s as if the bottom 6 forwards — Janmark, Holloway, Brown, Ryan McLeod, Derek Ryan and Adam Erne — collectively have what golfers call “the yips” around the net. All six of them have matching boxcars of 0-0-0; indeed, only Janmark has even been on the ice for an Edmonton goal. In their combined 40 GP, the sextet have 39 shots on goal, but no joy. Some of their best looks haven’t even resulted in official shots, never mind goals. At this moment I wouldn’t trust a one of them to sink a three-foot putt.

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Another area where quickness seems to have deserted the scene is decision-making, even on the most fundamental level. On Tuesday in Minnesota, the Oilers matched a dubious NHL “record” with 3 (three) too-many-men-on-the-ice infractions in the same game. Another terrible change resulted directly in a Minny 3-on-1 jailbreak, while still another on the first line change of the third period was directly responsible for the goal that cancelled out a hard-won 3-2 lead and opened the floodgates for a 5-goal outburst by the Wild in the final frame.

If the Oilers addressed this in between games, it wasn’t readily apparent. No bench minors this time, but 3 bad line changes involving 5 different players led to a trio of Rangers’ scoring chances — in the second period alone!

That middle period was the decisive one, as the Rangers scored all 3 of their goals in that frame. Controlling the puck and the play in the o-zone at my end of the barn, New York absolutely shredded Edmonton with their east-west passing game. Time and again cross-seam passes led to great chances, a couple of goal posts, and all 3 goals. The Oilers are learning a new defensive system (or so I’m told), but that process isn’t happening very fast either. It seemed like Stu Skinner was forced to go post-to-post a dozen times in that frame alone.

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A few positives

Skinner had a strong game in defeat, delivering a number of fine saves even as he couldn’t quite stop them all, as his counterpart Jonathan Quick did with a considerably lighter workload. Stu’s outstanding save against a Rangers 2-on-1 in the last minute of the first to keep the game scoreless to the first intermission was, in its context, perhaps the biggest stop made by an Oilers goalie so far this season.

Kane was highly noticeable for the third game in a row, bringing a physical element that was otherwise in fairly short supply. After a dismal start to his season, Kane has been the proverbial bull in a china shop this last week, laying on the body, scrumming it up, and taking on all challengers. He’s had 4+ hits in each of the last 4 games; his 28 on the season equal the total of the next 2 Oilers combined (Holloway 15, Ekholm 13). Kane has his own issues handling the puck, exacerbated by the grisly skate cut to his wrist he endured last season, and remains prone to the odd silly penalty or defensive gaffe, but his robust play is trending up.

To my eye both Kulak and Brown had their best games to date on Thursday. Kulak’s game is built around his plus skating, which was on full display.

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Brown meanwhile was all around the puck, and the net. In addition to the misses mentioned above, he had 2 outstanding shots on net that sparked some of Quick’s best work, and led both teams with 9 shot attempts. One of just 2 new Oilers (Erne is the other), he’s trying to fit in while shaking off a year’s worth of rust. While many are suggesting the org move him out before his substantial bonus vests for 2024-25, such discussion is premature in the sense he’s got a couple games before reaching the threshold, and progress is being made. Best guess here is that he’ll stick around, and that in time Oil fans and even critics will come to appreciate his puckhawking game.

History lesson

A run of poor play is especially noticeable at the start of a season when it is the only sample we have. 1-5-1 certainly qualifies as poor, but it doesn’t mean the squad will be 10-50-10 in March. They still have 75 games to play, and with 3 points in the back already need “just” 90 more to get to the 93 that typically marks the playoff cut line. That’s a .600 points percentage, challenging enough but far below the .665 the Oilers recorded over 82 a year ago, or the .634 of the prior season.

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Of course that assumes a turnaround from the current trajectory, and we’re not seeing many signs of that just yet. But as of right now, the locals are just 4 points out of 8th place in the West. It’s way too soon to panic, even as it is not too soon to be a little aggravated with the state of affairs. The team itself is certainly aware, and team leaders Darnell Nurse and Zach Hyman acknowledged it with some direct, even blunt verbal in the aftermath of the Rangers’ game. Talk is cheap, of course, but recognition of the problem is the first of the 12 steps.

One doesn’t have to venture far into the past to find a much more extended run of play with even worse results. In 2021-22 the Oilers endured a 6-game losing slide, all in regulation, in which they were outscored 24-9; then after winning a couple of games collapsed right back into an 0-5-2 streak in which they scored just 16 goals while allowing 33. Make it 2-11-2 for a .200 points percentage over a seven-week period that included an injury bug on the blueline, a COVID outbreak that sidelined a series of players and caused multiple postponements, and a hockey club that couldn’t get it together.

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So happened I attended the last game of that ghastly slide, a 6-0 shutout loss to the Presidents’ Trophy bound Florida Panthers that also ended with boos ringing in the rafters of Rogers. It was Jan 20 and the cause seemed to be hopeless.

Despite their early season cushion, the Oilers had by then fallen from first in the West to twelfth. They finally broke out of the fever with a big home win over Calgary (foreshadowing?), then returned to their winning ways on the regular. Indeed, Edmonton went 47-16-4 in the two large sections of that season to either side of that 15-game hole, ultimately finishing a comfortable fifth in the conference. They then proceeded to take out the Kings and Flames in the playoffs to make it all the way to the Conference Finals for the first time in 18 years.

2-11-2 is the equivalent of a pair of 1-5-1 runs with an extra loss thrown in. Far more serious than the current backslide, but even then it proved surmountable, even as the sked was nearing its halfway point by then.

This season? The Oilers have a proven group that has hit a few speed bumps right after the starting line. It’s exasperating, but it’s also far too soon to panic.

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Oilers forward Mattias Janmark was wearing a sling on his right arm in photos from a team event on Friday. No word on his availability for the Heritage Classic on Sunday. If neither he nor McDavid can go, the Oilers would have to play a man short.

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2023-10-28 07:38:32Z
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