FEATURE: Welcome home

EDMONTON, AB - Forget your birthday. Forget Christmas.
Have you ever slept in your own bed after returning from an 18-day road trip?
"It's the best time of the year, really," joked defenceman Darnell Nurse, fresh off scoring the game-winning overtime goal against the Winnipeg Jets a day prior in the Oilers fourth and final game of their season-opening road swing.

A character comeback in Winnipeg thanks to three goals in the third period and Nurse's extra-time tally gives the club an even 2-2 record entering their long-awaited home opener this Thursday.
"Last night could've easily gone the other way where it ended 6-1 or 7-1, then we're talking about a whole different thing and answering a bunch of different questions today," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after setting the NHL record for involvement in his team's first nine goals of the season on Tuesday. "It definitely helps the mindset and hopefully we keep the ball rolling."
Two weeks on from the league's opening night on October 3, the Oilers are the only remaining team in the NHL yet to play a game at home.

When asked if a sense of familiarity has finally returned to the lineup after a long road trip, Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan said the job of reacclimatizing to a regular NHL schedule will be two-fold with a number of playoff-capable teams coming through the doors of Rogers Place over the next eight days.
"Not yet, but we're getting there," McLellan said of settling in. "They're home now, and the fact that we came home early before we went to Winnipeg helped. It broke the trip up a little bit. We were able to get to know our families again a little bit and get organized at home and in the community.
"This homestand is obviously very important and we're playing some A-class teams, so our task is going to be tough while we reacclimatize to the normal."
Going into tomorrow's home opener with a .500 record of 2-2 instead of 1-3 isn't a big point of contention for McLellan, who points to the second effort by his team against the Jets as the major takeaway over early-season records.

"The fact that we were able to come back against a really good team I think was as important as the 2-2 record," McLellan added. "But at this time of the year, the early records are magnified immensely because there's nothing else to evaluate.
"We're four games into an 82-game season and there's been a lot of stress and pressure put on us in the league because the numbers are so tight. For me, 2-2 is better than 1-3 but the ability to come back and have a total team effort was really important as well."