McDavid, Oilers forced to deal with adversity as they enter stretch drive
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The Edmonton Oilers are looking for answers after falling from their perch atop the Pacific Division.
Edmonton has gone 3-6-0 since the league returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, which allowed the Vegas Golden Knights to overtake them in the division.
Entering Thursday's game against the New Jersey Devils, the Oilers have a 37-23-4 record and are five points back of the Golden Knights for first in their division and one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.
While their recent skid is concerning, the team believes that going through adversity at this stage of the regular season may be beneficial ahead of what they hope is another long playoff run.
"As a team, we've talked about it and we think it can be the best thing for us, going through something difficult and going through adversity before the big stretch," goaltender Stuart Skinner told Dan Rosen of NHL.com on Wednesday. "This could be perfect for us, going through this, having to battle it out, a good time for us to come together as a team and figure things out, so when the time comes again – and it always does – we know how to deal with it."
While star centre Leon Draisaitl has been the picture of consistency, recording 11 goals and 23 points during his current 15-game point streak, the team's offence has been down during their recent skid.
Superstar Connor McDavid only has two goals with a minus-8 rating since scoring the overtime winner for Canada against the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off final. Meanwhile, forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has only found the back of the net once in his past 15 games.
Skinner has also struggled during this stretch, going 2-4-0 with a 3.60 goals-against average and .876 save percentage.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch watched his team go through a lot of adversity last season during the Stanley Cup playoffs, winning two elimination games to beat the Vancouver Canucks in the second round and coming back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Stanley Cup Final to take the Florida Panthers to seven games.
He believes that their ability to flip the switch can be both a blessing and a curse.
"I think one of our strengths is also a weakness for us," said Knoblauch. "We handle adversity extremely well. No matter what happens, we just go with it. But on the flip side, when you're really good at handling adversity and you're calm, often you're missing that switch to turn it on and [realize] we need to push a little bit harder.
"It's a fine line and right now I think we can push a little bit harder, be ready for these games and playing a full 60 minutes."
The Oilers have 18 games remaining in the regular season, which includes nine games against teams that are currently outside of the playoff picture in their respective conferences. They also have two more head-to-head matchups with the Kings and one with the Golden Knights.
Knoblauch believes that they need to flip the switch now in order to take advantage of their schedule and put themselves in a position to succeed once the playoffs begin. He wants the players to be more focused and engaged on the bench.
"Mostly it's the guys on the bench being engaged, talking to each other, and executing on the ice," said Knoblauch. "You can really tell with the body language, guys communicating on the bench. I think it starts there and carries over to playing on the ice."