“You want to keep it going, try to get some wins together. That’s important,” McDavid said Monday. “But we just want to play a solid game, that’s all. Keep our game consistent, roll it from game to game, that’s what’s important right now and getting wins as well.”
The Oilers are coming off a 6-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday, concluding a seven-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams (3-3-1).
Now they’re back at Rogers Place, where they hope the momentum they gained from a win against the team that defeated them in consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals can carry into their Western Conference Finals rematch against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; TVS, SN, Victory+).
“Dallas is a great team,” McDavid said. “We know them really well and it will be a good test.”
Edmonton (10-9-5) has deflated its tires at times this season, but its captain believes going through a tough trip that saw them play seven games in 11 days could be a springboard to success.
However, after the home game on Tuesday, the Oilers will take the field for a game at the Seattle Kraken on Saturday before hosting five consecutive games at home.
“It’s been a long run, a tough run. We’ve played a lot of hockey in a short period of time in a lot of different cities,” McDavid said. “It was a tough stretch and it’s nice to be home and spend a little time here and just regroup for one, but playing in Dallas is a big game and we have to find a way to get a win here at home.”
Edmonton has already spent much of the season on the road, playing only eight games at home (5-1-2) compared to 16 (5-8-3) away from Rogers Place. Balancing the schedule now looks like an opportunity to make up some ground in the standings.
“These last few weeks have been a big part of our schedule in terms of work,” McDavid said. “That was a tough trip, a lot of games, a lot of cities, and honestly most of it was done on the road, which is weird to say so early in the season. I’m looking forward to finding my best game here at home.”
Considering the difficult schedule to start the season, the short offseason, the number of new players added to the lineup, and injuries to forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen, the Oilers remained optimistic as the first quarter of the season came and went.
Nugent-Hopkins, who missed eight games with an undisclosed injury suffered in a 9-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 8, could return Saturday. Kapanen, who has been out since October 19 with a lower body injury, could also play against the Kraken.
“We haven’t really played with a full deck all year,” McDavid said. We’ve always had one guy in and one guy out, so we’re hoping for everyone to come back healthy.
“We missed (Nugent-Hopkins) a lot. He helps a lot everywhere, on the penalty kill, on the power play, 5-on-5, he does everything he’s asked. Kapanen obviously adds a lot of speed for us, and we miss both of them and we definitely want to get healthy.”
However, the Oilers have been through this before.
In 2023–24, the Oilers started 2–9–1 and finished second in the Pacific Division (49–27–6) and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Panthers in seven games.
Last season, Edmonton lost its first three games and went 10-9-2 in its first 21 – a record that is identical to this season – before finishing third in the Pacific Region (48-29-5) and then advancing to the finals, where it lost to Florida in six games.
“We don’t think it’s just going to happen,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We don’t think just because we’ve done it in the past that it happens automatically. We understand it takes a lot of work and we know we have the ability to do it, but it’s going to take work starting with the work and shopping right on a nightly basis.
“No way do we think here, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just going to come.’ We understand that we have to do this. We have to make that change, and from what I saw on that trip, there were a lot of good things and we will take it forward.
Coach Chris Knoblauch thinks the Oilers aren’t too far from where he thought they might be at this point in the season.
A seven-game road trip against the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida was always going to be challenging. Edmonton picked up wins at Philadelphia (2–1 in overtime) and Carolina (4–3 in overtime), and earned a point at Tampa Bay (2–1 overtime loss) before turning in a strong performance against the Panthers.
“When I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the season and saw how tough it was going to be, with all the road games we had, travel and the start of the season, I knew we would be in this position, or close to it anyway,” Knoblauch said. “I want a few more wins, but that’s it, and now we’ve just got to get some leads, play better hockey and ultimately win more games.”
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