ZONING IN
“Anytime you're working through a new way of doing things, there are growing pains,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said.
When a ‘zonal’ defensive system was embraced by the Oilers as an organization during Training Camp – an approach popularized by the 2023 Boston Bruins – they accounted for some bumps along the way as the coaches and players worked through adapting to a new way of defending in their own end.
The Blue & Orange had allowed 20 goals against through their first five games for the 10th time in franchise history coming into Tuesday’s game against the Wild, but their new defensive-zone approach had been returning good results in the analysis of the coaching staff.
“I think it gets magnified by the fact that our record is what our record is right now (1-4-1),” Woodcroft said. “Anytime you go to something new and you're working through something, there's growing pains.”
Coach Woodcroft instead saw his team’s mistakes fall on other aspects of their game – rush defending, faceoffs and breakout turnovers – while pointing to Brock Boeser’s high-slot shot in the second game of the regular season against Vancouver as their only goal against this season that’d been a result of a breakdown in defensive coverage.
Their play was “better than their record showed,” said Woodcroft, but on Thursday, the Oilers struggled to contain the Wild in their own end – specifically around the crease – as their individual execution in key moments escaped them in a five-goal third period for Minnesota.
