'Obvious Change' Has Led to Oilers Recent Success

“I think the most obvious change is that they’re committing to defense and taking care of their own end,” says one of the contributors at Oilers Nation. A conversation started about what the key was to the Oilers’ winning run before their loss to Vegas on Saturday. Was it goaltending, was it a change in ice time for certain players? Did the arrival of a few new faces make a difference? How were the Oilers winning without Leon Draisaitl in the lineup?

The contributors to the post had a few different ideas. Jason Gregor noted, “The difference is the guys playing 14+ minutes are committed to playing better defensively and have been more consistent. They are finally playing up to their potential.” That was something that Kasperi Kapanen of the Oilers tended to agree with when asked the same question last week. “”Which knowing that you guys had more in the tank or was it just kind of finding your game room

“…like I said earlier I think we were just underperforming. We have an extremely talented and extremely good and, I’d say, kind of complete hockey team. We weren’t playing to the best of our ability, and you know, as of late, we’ve kind of found it, whatever that may be. Certain guys have been stepping up, obviously we’re missing Leo, so we kind of have to, and saying that nobody’s going to fill his shoes, but it’s just kind of as a collective effort, I think everybody’s been doing a great job, so we just got to keep it up.”

The Timing of the Turnaround Is No Coincidence

The collective decision to focus more on the 200-ft game has made life much easier for the goaltenders. Because of that, while the netminding should be given some credit, it wouldn’t be where it is recently if not for better dedication to defense. So too, the offense was never the problem. Edmonton can score.