BLOG: Consistency the key component at Tuesday's practice

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Oilers returned to Rogers Place for practice on Tuesday morning after legging out the logistics of a four-game Eastern Conference road trip that ended with a .500 record (2-2-0).
The players and coaches enjoyed a day off on Sunday in the Sunshine State following their 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers in the final game of four games in six days that included a lot of late flights and late arrivals to their destinations around the eastern seaboard of the United States.
"It was a tough one," defenceman Cody Ceci said. "A lot of late nights back-to-back in there and just a lot of games in a short period of time, but it was nice to stay a night in the nice weather and get together as a team."
"We did a little bit of team-building," captain Connor McDavid added. "A little bit of rest, and it's always nice to have a couple of days off during the season."

But despite taking two-wins-out-of-four from strong eastern opposition, their 2-2-0 record on the road trip is symbolic of some up-and-down play from the Oilers that extends in large part to their entire 2022-23 season that sits at 9-7-0 through 16 games. Finding consistency in their game is at the forefront of Edmonton's approach towards improving.
"I think if you just look at where we're at in our season, we've obviously got more wins than losses, but you'd probably like to have a little bit more room," goaltender Stuart Skinner said. "I think as a team we're growing every day, and we're learning from our good stuff and our bad stuff. I think we just got to keep on hammering that in every day, every practice, after every game and keep on moving forward."
The Oilers own the fourth-highest average goals against per game (3.63) and third-most average shots per game (34.9) this season while operating at the other end of the ice with the second-best power-play percentage (32.2 percent) and third-best average goals per game (3.69).
Their third-lowest penalty kill percentage (70.6 percent) has contributed to their higher goals against, but the Oilers penalty kill began to show signs of a turnaround in the final three games of the road trip (10-for-12) after conceding four goals on five opportunities to the Washington Capitals.
"I think we're doing a good job at growing every day. I know our PK has made a huge stride, so we're getting there," Skinner added.

The team travelled back to Edmonton on Monday afternoon in advance of Tuesday's practice and the start of a two-game homestand. The Oilers will debut their Reverse Retro jerseys with the return of the iconic Todd McFarlane 'Oil Gear' design on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings.
"We traveled properly yesterday, we had a good practice today, and we're preparing for a divisional opponent in very competitive, very game LA Kings team," Woodcroft commented. "We use rest to our advantage and we're trying to prepare for a team that's directly in front of us, so we know how important the game is tomorrow. I thought today was a good step in the right direction to prepare for them."
The clash with the Kings on Wednesday before closing out their brief homestand on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights gives Edmonton the chance to get back to .500 on home ice and improve on their 4-5-0 record at Rogers Place this season before they embark on next week's three-game road trip through New York.
"That's a good question. I'm not sure," McDavid said of the Oilers home struggles this season. "This building is a building that we're comfortable playing in. It was very friendly to us last year. We love playing in front of our fans, but for whatever reason, we haven't brought our A-game."
"We've got two at home here and I'd look for our best in both."

Skinner was between the pipes in the starter's net on Tuesday, signalling that the Edmonton, AB native will make his second straight start after stopping 40-of-42 shots in Satruday's stellar performance against the Florida Panthers.
Forward Kailer Yamamoto, who wasn't on the ice for Tuesday's practice and hasn't suited up in Edmonton's last three games, was categorized by Head Coach Jay Woodcroft post-practice as day-to-day.
Lines at this morning's practice appeared as follows:
Forwards
Nugent-Hopkins -McDavid - Puljujarvi
Foegele - Draisaitl - Hyman
Janmark - McLeod - Kostin
Holloway - Shore - Ryan
Benson
Defence
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Bouchard
Niemelainen - Barrie
Murray
Goalies
Skinner
Campbell

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