Lineup continuity has Oilers rolling

There are three constants in life: death, taxes, and the Kris Knoblauch line blender.

And boy, was it out in full force early on this season. As the early parts of the Edmonton Oilers’ season slogged on, amid a myriad of injuries, it seemed as though every game brought a new lineup.

It was exhausting for fans to watch, and was likely the case for the players, too.

But for the first time this season, the Oilers have found some continuity in their lineup — and it’s paying off.

When the Seattle Kraken rolled into town last Thursday night, Knoblauch went back to something old, and something new. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid, and Zach Hyman on the top line as The Old, Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl, and Matthew Savoie the second line, The New.

Since then, the Oilers have gone 3-1, securing wins, outscoring the opposition 22-11, including their 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings Thursday night.

At five-on-five, the top line, as outscored the opposition 4-2, controlling 66 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick, while the second line has outscored the opposition 2-0, controlling 60 percent of the expected goal share.

It all came to ahead on Thursday night, as The Old had a night. A Hyman hat trick, four assists from McDavid, and another from Nugent-Hopkins.

Continuity in the lineup has played a big part, McDavid said.

“I think it’s important. It’s so important,” he said after the game. “You know, we’ve been flip-flopping like crazy all year long, and just to get some, some stability throughout the lineup is so important.

“You know, something that we talk a lot about, it’s not easy to build chemistry. It’s not something that happens overnight, you know, so to have a little bit of continuity, lines can start to meet and talk and figure out where each other are going to be. And I think you’re starting to see that.”

This, of course, doesn’t include anything about the Oilers power play going on a run. Dating back to the one road game against Seattle before the homestand, the power play has converted eight goals on 17 chances, for a 47.1 percent rate.

“First and foremost, I think Paul McFarland does a good job preparing the guys and has a good plan, a pre-scout on what to do for the other team coming in,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “But it’s our players, they’re just dialled in and ready to capitalize.

“They’ve had to be because we haven’t had many power plays and the ones that we have had, they haven’t really wasted them. The other night, I believe we went 0-for-four [They went 0-for-three against Minnesota], but I felt like we had some opportunities that we could have scored on. This stretch or pretty much all season, our power play has been pretty dialed in.”

And now, the Oilers are heading to Toronto — with a new goalie in tow — to take on a Toronto Maple Leafs team when their own confidence is high. That’s important not just for a game that will see tons of family and friends in the crowd, but as the Oilers prepare to embark on a five-game road trip.

“(We feel) really confident we can go out and put a couple wins together here,” said McDavid. “Feel like our group’s in a good spot.”