FEATURE: Weathering The Storm

EDMONTON, AB – What better way to test your team’s early-season progress than a well-timed encounter on home ice against the reigning Stanley Cup champions?

For Head Coach Mike Babcock, who had Thursday’s meeting with the Carolina Hurricanes circled on his calendar as an early stress test for the Edmonton Oilers’ strong start to the campaign, the defending champions’ ability to tighten up defensively and roll their relentless four-line attack proved to be the challenge for his team that he’d hoped for.

Following 65 minutes plus a shootout of exciting hockey between two of the League’s top teams, his team showed resolve to earn the win behind some incredible individual performances, earning a result that could prove more valuable than the two points from a 6-5 shootout win that improves their record to 8-1-1, good enough for first place in the Western Conference and the top win percentage in the NHL (.850).

There’s still plenty of the season left, but this early-season encounter for the Oilers could lay the foundation for the rest of the season for Babcock, and things were already looking pretty solid beforehand.

Simply put, there’s a lot for the Blue & Orange to build on beyond some of the individual performances that were on display against the Stanley Cup champs, who came into Thursday carrying their form from their championship run last season and were undone by five power plays, which led to three power-play tallies for the Oilers.

“What I liked about tonight's game for us is that I was so excited to play this game 10 games in, because we seem to be getting better,” Babcock said. “We had a team come in here that flat-out competes, knows how to win and does things right.”

“The bottom line is we're down going into the third, and we talked about being ultra-competitive and finding a way to crawl back, and we did that,” he continued. “In the end, we won. But we got a ton of lessons here tonight just about competitiveness, about doing things right, and having everybody be important.”

And in fairness, when you play a team as drilled on their details as the Hurricanes, Babcock expected the lessons to go both ways for his team, which certainly came true after Carolina showed their championship capabilities by limiting the Oilers at nearly every turn, holding them to nine shots through two periods and leading 4-2 after 40 minutes.

With the help of five points apiece from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, plus an impressive season debut from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a goal & an assist to go along with the shootout winner, the Oilers were able to lean on their top two lines and first-unit power play to lead them to the win over a very difficult opponent.

Nugent-Hopkins didn’t sugarcoat the breakdowns or the production of his team’s power play, but said that he liked that their ‘never say die’ attitude came to the forefront again over a solid third-period push that shows that they don’t need much convincing to turn the switch.

“They obviously took advantage of a couple little breaks here and there, and our power play got a few before big-time goals by Connor and Leon," he said. "Sometimes, when it is that tight, it's tiny little breakdowns that end up being the difference. 

“I've seen it all year watching the team, just the way that they battle and compete no matter what the score is and what the time of the game is. I thought the way that we came on the third and had a really good pushback down two goals against that team was hard to do, so it’s fun to be a part of it and just definitely glad to be back out there.”

But there were no surprises when it comes to the Stanley Cup champs, and the Oilers faced plenty of challenges, met them head-on, and came away with a valuable win that will resonate with how they want to play as a unit moving forward.

For Babcock, early on is the best time to face adversity so it can build you & your game up for the rest of the regular season, and Thursday's lessons will prove to be valuable.

“We just didn't win enough battles,” Babcock said. “The game's so simple, and Carolina plays it simpler than anyone else. They're not tricking you. They're not doing anything fancy. They get it out, they get it in, they get all over you, catch you from behind, and then they do it again shift after shift. 

“But I thought this was the best opportunity for our team to play them tonight. For me, it was like a gift, and what I mean by that is we got a lot of lessons there today that we can build off. We have to learn to be way more resilient. When we bend, we can't break like that.  You just gotta hang in there.”