BLOG: Oilers determined to avoid complacency during win streak

EDMONTON, AB – There’s a fine line between resting on your laurels and using your success to drive further improvement.

The Edmonton Oilers want to make sure they’re in the latter camp of that discussion.

Despite staying even-keeled about the excitement of extending their new franchise record win streak to 11 games on Tuesday against Toronto, Edmonton’s players and coaches are still finding moments to marvel at their achievement while keeping their focus on preparing to win the next hockey game – whether that does or doesn't include your team being on a double-digit heater.

“We just don’t want to get complacent, and we're always looking to get better at certain things,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said following Wednesday’s practice at Rogers Place.

"I think right now, the focus is on getting better at certain systems. But probably the biggest thing is just not getting complacent. I think we're very happy with the way we're playing. We're feeling very confident, but we don't want to let that complacency creep into our game."

When you consider how the season started for the Blue & Orange, you can understand why the Oilers players and coaches are hesitant to let their foot off the gas pedal.

A tepid start to their 2023-24 season set the Oilers back into 30^th place in the NHL and eighth in the Pacific Division on Nov. 10 with a 2-9-1 record, representing a sizeable 10-point gap between themselves and the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

Edmonton has gone 21-6-0 under Head Coach Kris Knoblauch since his appointment on Nov. 12, stringing together respective 11-game and nine-game win streaks to pull themselves into the second Wild Card spot and to within one point of the Los Angeles Kings in third place in the Pacific Division, who were 14 points up on the Oilers after 12 games played.

Over that 27-game span, the Oilers have showcased their overall team confidence that's reached a new level this year despite some exceptional moments for the Blue & Orange over the last few seasons.

The club bided their time against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday and came back to win when facing a third-period deficit for the fourth straight contest by relying on all their strengths that’ve all contributed mightily to their franchise-best win streak.

Stuart Skinner has won a career-best eight straight games, going 14-2-0 in his last 16 starts, while Calvin Pickard has also contributed three of Edmonton’s 11 straight victories as a reliable back-up that can help alleviate his workload between the pipes when called upon.

Defensively, the Oilers have allowed only 19 goals in their last 11 games, which is a product of a commitment from the forwards and defencemen in their own zone and their terrific penalty kill that’s performed to the tune of 29-for-32 (90.4 percent) over the win streak.

Edmonton's offence led by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has shown moments of flat-out dominance, but also, their ability to come up with clutch goals in tight low-scoring and one-goal games.

Their depth contributions have been steadily rising, including on Tuesday when Derek Ryan and Ryan McLeod scored the tying and game-winning goals against the Maple Leafs. Both Derek Ryan and defenceman Mattias Ekholm contributed milestone markers against Toronto, contributing their respective 200th and 300th career points.

“Our game is a lot better than it was then, so I don't know if I can speak to how fine the line is, but we definitely grew our game,” said forward Derek Ryan. “I think we're all proud of our game, where it's at right now, and how we're winning games. 

“I don't think we're winning games the wrong way. I don't think Skinsy's outright stealing us games left and right. I think he's making huge saves when we need him. We've done a good job limiting chances. Our penalty kill has been great, our top guys have been awesome, and the bottom guys have provided some support as well. 

“I think we're just happy about how we're winning games.”

Coach Knoblauch is still relatively fresh to being a head coach in the NHL, and his list of changes and tweaks that he wants to bring to Edmonton remains unfinished; if not growing each day. The bench boss acknowledged after Wednesday’s practice that during a winning streak of this length, it can be a hard balance between over-coaching his group and keeping things too status quo.

“As a coach, you run the risk of how much you talk to the team,” he said. “If we focus on everything, we end up focusing on nothing. And I guess as a coach, you have to always have to pick your spots of what's important and what needs to be addressed.”

At Wednesday's practice, Knoblauch embraced that idea by centring his team's itinerary around their play near the opposition's crease and how the defencemen can take a bigger role in generating those opportunities.

"Today, the focus was on puck protection in the offensive zone and how we can create scoring chances around the net. We've spent a lot of time talking to our defence and even practicing in the offensive zone with our defensemen low-to-high passes, getting shots from the point, and today our focus was a little bit different but I think that always changes."