New Oilers coach Woodcroft has plenty to fix after Tippett fired

EDMONTON --Jay Woodcroft arrives as coach of the Edmonton Oilers with a long list of things to fix.

Woodcroft replaced Dave Tippett,
who was fired Thursday
and will coach the Oilers when they host the New York Islanders on Friday (9 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, MSG+, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
Edmonton (23-18-3), which is fifth in the eight-team Pacific Division, started the season 16-5-0 but is 7-13-3 in its past 23 games. During that span, it allowed the first goal 20 times and three or more goals 19 times.
The Oilers are tied for 23rd in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in goals-against per game (3.32) after they were 12th last season (2.75); tied for 23rd on the penalty kill (76.7 percent) with the Dallas Stars after they were ninth last season (82.5); and 25th in save percentage (.897) after tying for seventh with the Florida Panthers last season (.910).
Edmonton has allowed the first goal in 32 of 44 games, most in the NHL.
"We talked to the team this morning, we had a meeting to set the ground work, there are small things that you can implement on the fly, but I'm very cognisant of the fact there isn't much practice time over the next little while," Woodcroft said Friday. "I'm cognisant of the fact it's a game day today, and we don't want our players overthinking, we want them playing and we don't want to see any hesitation in their game.
"For me, there are details in the game that we're going to put an emphasis on, that we're going to put an import on, but more importantly we want our players to play free of hesitation tonight.
The Oilers had streaks of six games (0-6-0; Dec. 3-14) and seven games (0-5-2; Dec. 29-Jan. 20) without a win. They started the season with five straight wins and had a six-game point streak before losing two home games this week, 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday and 4-1 to the Blackhawks on Wednesday in the last game for Tippett, who was coach since May 28, 2019.
"We have stretches where we play pretty good and then we don't play good," general manager Ken Holland said Thursday. "It feels to me, after Dec. 1, I think in the last 20 or 23 games, we've scored the first goal three times. It feels like you're chasing the game. We've been chasing the game for two months."

Edmonton has had problems on offense too. It was second in the NHL behind the Pittsburgh Penguins with an average of 3.81 goals per game in 21 games through Dec. 1 but was 26th (2.61) in the 23 games since.
Scoring from forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid slowed over that stretch.
Draisaitl has scored 64 points (33 goals, 31 assists) in 44 games and is tied for the NHL scoring lead with Jonathan Huberdeau of the Panthers but has scored 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) in the past 23 games, tied with Tyler Bertuzzi of the Detroit Red Wings and Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers for 42nd. McDavid, who is third in scoring with 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists) in 43 games, has scored 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in 22 games after Dec. 1, tied with five players for 52nd.
Woodcroft, who was coach of Bakersfield in the American Hockey League since 2018-19, will have to make adjustments after two players were injured Wednesday. Defenseman Duncan Keith is out 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury and is in NHL concussion protocol, and forward Zack Kassian is out 4-8 weeks with a fractured jaw.
"I think we have some people that can play better than what they've played," Holland said. "Then if you start to win, you start to get some confidence and some swagger. We've lost our confidence and we've lost our swagger. You'd like to play with the lead a little bit more often. Can we score the first goal more often?
"The solution probably has to be in the room at this stage of the game."
It will be up to Woodcroft to be a different voice, to try to turn the tide for the Oilers while there's time.
"My instincts, my experience, [are] telling me that there's 38 games to go," Holland said. "We still control our own fate, there's big games ahead, like tomorrow night … that if I waited 10 more games and we kept going, it might be too late. So I'm hoping and believing by what I did today, it's going to have a positive impact to get us to turn the corner.
"[Woodcroft] has got passion. He's got energy. He's paid his dues. He's been in a room with top hockey people, good coaches in the NHL. He's run his own bench. He started out in video, and they're watching every little thing and he's got to bring things to the coaches. He watches details. I think for all those reasons, I think he's an NHL coach."