BLOG: Oilers committed to earning more chances in high-danger areas

EDMONTON, AB – If you want to generate more even-strength scoring opportunities, you have to be willing to earn your chances in the hard areas of the ice.

During the first minute of Saturday night’s defeat to the Vancouver Canucks in their Home Opener at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers exemplified that idea to a tee with a hard-working shift that produced their early 1-0 advantage thanks to their efforts around the blue paint of the Canucks.

“I think the best example of that was how we started the last game with Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I saw three very hungry players that were willing to do what it takes by getting their nose dirty, burrowing over the blue paint, and they were rewarded.”

After winning the puck and sending it up top, all three Oilers forwards swarmed the crease in pursuit of rebounds off Darnell Nurse’s point shot.

The chance developed into a goal-mouth scramble where Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins both took whacks at the puck in dangerous areas in order to force it across the crease to the waiting German, who pushed home the go-ahead goal under Casey DeSmith just 42 seconds into regulation for his second goal of the campaign.

The marker registered as an even-strength goal of the blue-collar variety, but it also represents Edmonton’s lone five-on-five goal so far through their first two games of the regular season.

“That's the even-strength goal that we scored, so we're pleased with the amount or volume of chances, but we're not pleased with our finish just yet,” Woodcroft added. “We think we can continue to go to harder areas to find success at the same time.”

As per NaturalStatTrick, Edmonton enjoyed a heavy 28-14 advantage in shots at even strength and a Corsi For Percentage (CF%) of 72.41 percent on Saturday – showing that they carried the large majority of play inside the Canucks zone at five-on-five over the full 60 minutes.

The Oilers still weren’t able to get much going offensively at even strength from the perimeter, while the Canucks were able to put three even-strength goals beyond the Oilers from in close despite the ice being tilted in their team's general direction for most of the contest

All three of Vancouver’s goals at five-on-five were scored in the area between the inside hashmarks of the circles and the front of Stuart Skinner’s net.

The Oilers are happy with the rate to which they’ve so far been generating opportunities, but earning more offensive chances in the high-percentage, high-danger areas of the ice off efforts like the one Hyman, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins displayed on Saturday night is high on their list of early-season adjustments after Monday's practice at Rogers Place.

The Oilers departed for Nashville following the practice to begin their first road trip of the season at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday against the Predators.

“I know we had 40 shots or whatever it said, but I really think we could add more,” Evander Kane said. “We spend a lot of time on the outside. I think we have to really start to penetrate the middle of the ice, especially in the o-zone, and get pucks there to create some more grade-A scoring opportunities.”

Coach Woodcroft added: “I think when you look at all areas of our game, the fact of the matter is that we’ve scored one even strength goal in two games. Obviously, there's a lot of chances created. There wasn't a lot of finish. I think our shooting percentage at even strength is about two percent, which is not our standard, but you worry when you're not getting chances.

“I think we're creating chances. To Evander's point, I think in that kind of red-zone area below the hashmarks, we can be harder. We can display more second and third efforts.”