FEATURE: Life in the win column

EDMONTON, AB - Winning isn't everything but it does make life more enjoyable.
Those residing in the Tippett household can attest.
"You could probably ask my kids that over 40 years in the NHL, it's a different atmosphere around the house when you win and lose," Head Coach Dave Tippett said Thursday from the Oilers Hall of Fame Room before the team's flight to Seattle.
"Winning is way more fun than losing."

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Living in the win column has its perks and boasting a National Hockey League-best .762 points percentage has yielded benefits for the Orange & Blue.
Food tastes better with a 16-5-0 record and the weather is much warmer at the top of the Western Conference standings. In the arena, attitudes are light and the motivation to improve increases, but Tippett and his team try to remain grounded by not getting overly upbeat or upset following a final score.
"Everybody is in a better mood learning the next day when you win," the coach affirmed. "That being said, I'd like to keep things even-toned. When you win, you're prancing around that day and when you lose, you're not sulking around, either. Keep it pretty even-keeled and keep it going."
Finding a way to win has been the Oilers rallying cry in the early portion of the 2021-22 season and the methods have varied.
In some games, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do the heavy lifting or the ever-efficient special teams department pushes the club along. Other nights, Edmonton's goaltending puts forth a heroic effort or the group's lineup and pipeline depth helps propel past the opponent.
And in Wednesday's win, sheer resilience and a commitment to the system placed Edmonton above Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins despite surviving a 15-7 shot margin for the visitors in the second period.
At the end of the day, a win is a win.

"Everybody's contributed, which is a good thing for our group," Tippett said. "Last night's game was an interesting game. We defended too much because of our puck play. But when you look at the chances of the game and you just went through the highlights of the game, you'd understand why we won."
Life has more colour during winning stretches and it also brings a sense of self-belief to the skaters living large. Through the quarter mark of the season, members of the Oilers expressed the confidence they've obtained, oftentimes entering matchups knowing a victory is possible when the odds are stacked against.
"We believe that if we play a certain way on any given night, we give ourselves a better chance to win," Tippett added. "You have injuries, you have young players, you have different things that come into play that you can never use as an excuse."
At the second intermission when the ice was tilted in the Penguins' favour on Wednesday, Tippett and the team transferred their balanced mentality and internal belief into the third period to rally.

"It was 2-2 and we had given up two bad goals. One was a line change and one was a tough read on a faceoff," he said. "Our conversation after the second period was, 'We can do some better things with the puck but we can also win some more puck battles that will help us see if we can find a win.'"
No Mike Smith, no Darnell Nurse, no left-side regulars on the blueline and a plethora of youngsters filling the gaps. For the time being in Oil Country, that's no problem.
"Our guys have done a pretty good job of recognizing that, 'OK, we might not have our best, maybe we're not getting the calls we want and we got injuries but there's no excuse for not putting your best foot forward and trying to win,'" Tippett said.