‘We’re all on the same page’: As McDavid shows his best, so do the Oilers

EDMONTON — The sample size is starting to become more convincing, a six-game run in which the Edmonton Oilers have rolled out a proper, professional game that can win — on five nights out of the six.

It is enough games, perhaps, that we can say with some conviction that the Edmonton Oilers have finally located their game. Or, at least, they are bearing down on it, a far cry from where they were two weeks ago.

“We’re all on the same page. We’re playing a lot faster,” said Evan Bouchard, who had a key shot block and three assists in a 9-4 win. “Things are clickin’, and guys are coming together.”

Could it be that they have finally turned the corner that, for some unknown reason, annually takes them two months of hockey to conquer?

It’s only been six games — and that 8-3 loss to Dallas was a messy one. But having watched this movie for three years running, it’s a stretch like this one that usually jettisons Edmonton out of the annual bad start and into the meat of a season where they become, eventually, Stanley Cup contenders.

“I feel like we’re playing better,” Connor McDavid said cautiously, after his first hat trick of the season. “It’s nice to score some goals and feel good about ourselves. It’s been a little bit of a grind here finding wins. It’s nice to put a good one together.”

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This was only the seventh regulation win for Edmonton this season, in Game 28.

This is the sample size: A 2-1 OT loss in Tampa, where Edmonton led 1-0 late; A 6-3 win at Florida; That 8-3 debacle against Dallas followed swiftly by a 4-0 road win at Seattle; A 1-0 loss to Minnesota, the NHL’s hottest team, followed by a 9-4 beatdown Thursday night over Seattle.

Defensively, they’ve been sound. The goaltending? More than good enough.

And now, as McDavid finally begins to pull the trigger — and the power play begins to light it up (four-for-five Thursday) — the Oilers gave us a product on Thursday that very much resembled the 100-point team they’ve been the last four years running.

Is this the team season ticket holders laid their money down to see, finally?

“I don’t think this is quite our team yet. We still have things to work on,” cautioned Kris Knoblauch, a typically never-quite-satisfied head coach. “But I’m starting to see a lot more things from our team that I like, and it all starts with compete and attention to detail in the defensive zone.

“If you don’t compete and if you don’t defend, well, you can’t win regularly. You can win once in a while. You can catch a team off guard, win a shootout game. But unless you can consistently play good defensive hockey, you won’t have much success.”

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Throw Thursday’s four goals by the Kraken in the bin. Edmonton led 3-0 and 6-2 before Seattle found a couple in garbage time. Edmonton has allowed nine regulation goals over the five games of the aforementioned stretch – not counting the loss to Dallas.

They’re never going to be Jacques Lemaire’s New Jersey Devils, and nobody wants that. But as long as they play a game where three or four goals are enough to win, well, this is a team that doesn’t usually have much problem getting to three or four.

With three games left in this homestand — against Winnipeg, Buffalo and Detroit — it’s not a fantasy to say the Oilers could head out on the road for Toronto next Friday in a top-three position in the Pacific, heights they haven’t seen yet this season.

On Tuesday, in that 1-0 loss to Minny, McDavid had passed off twice while in prime scoring position — and said as much after the game.

Remember when he said this in an interview with Sportsnet.ca back in September?

“I want to prove that scoring 50 or 60 is not a one-off,” he said before training camp. “I’ve had 50 goals, and I’ve had 100 assists, and I like the goals a little bit more.”

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Then he proceeded to come out of the chute passing, his shots on net down markedly — until Thursday.

McDavid came out firing against Seattle, and in the end scored three on a game-high seven shots.

“I thought I passed a couple away the other night, and it ultimately cost us, losing a 1-0 game. Who knows if I score on one of those,” he said Thursday. “ I definitely thought about shooting a little bit more.”

Suddenly, McDavid has 14 goals and 40 points in 28 games, just six points back of Nathan MacKinnon in the Art Ross race.

It’s part of the Oilers looking like the Oilers. If McDavid isn’t their best, most dangerous player, then they are simply not the team they are built to be.

How did Knoblauch see it?

“Just driven, with the mentality of shooting the puck and not passing up opportunities. On his first shift, he had a shot,” Knoblauch said. “I think he was disappointed with your guys’ coverage on his offensive ability, or not shooting the puck.

“If I’ve got a problem with any other players, I’ll just address it with you guys.”

No problem Kris. Always happy to help.

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