BLOG: Puljujarvi survived a test

EDMONTON, AB -Jesse Puljujarvi is a positive story for the Oilers this season. Even in games when the big, skilled, sophomore winger isn't scoring, his play is much better than it was last year.
He continues to develop into a weapon, and with that he continues to earn more ice time - more specifically power-play time lately.
A big reason for him getting more and more opportunities has been him passing the test of keeping his confidence high despite a scoring drought, which recently lasted eight games.
"He's played well. He's played confident," said Head Coach Todd McLellan. "The big test for him is that he went dry for five, six, seven, eight games without anything. Was he going to regress and lose his confidence? I thought he looked very confident the other day so that tells me he's continuing his growth and he's able to fight off those negative demons, if you will. As a result, he gets a little bit more time on the power play and we're trying to position him where he can use his shot somewhat. He's really starting to understand the systematic part of it and he's been fun to be around the last little bit because he's believing in himself and everyone else is believing in him."