Connor McDavid says it’s time for the Edmonton Oilers to get their act together and get going.
Speaking to the media after a fast-paced, hour-long practice Friday, the Oilers captain said the team has to begin playing with a little more desperation, a little more urgency.
And it has to start now.
“Fifteen games in … we’re in the meat of the season now,” McDavid said of the Oilers. “Two games here, then we go on a long road trip, a lot of hockey, a lot on the road.
“It’s time we get going.”
The Oilers have had notoriously slow starts the previous few seasons and while their 6-5-4 record is a noticeable improvement, the team has fallen into a habit of surrendering leads and losing recent games.
“We’ve done it six times,” McDavid said of blowing leads.
“We have to talk about it, something we have to figure out. That’s an area we have to clean up.”
Head coach Kris Knoblauch said giving up the two-goal leads in their last two losses — 3-2 to St. Louis and 4-3 to Dallas — was the result of multiple mistakes.
He said the Oiler players have failed to stay engaged after costly turnovers, letting opponents beat them to the net.
“We can have turnovers, but it’s how we react to those turnovers,” Knoblauch said. “A couple of games we let slip away when guys got beat back to the net.”
“We’re putting ourselves in good spots,” McDavid said of the Oilers getting some early leads recently. “[But] we’re not closing them out, something we’re normally quite good at. That hasn’t been the trend this year, something we have to figure out.”
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McDavid said the flow of the game has “felt disconnected” at times and that makes it more difficult to play the way the team wants.
“And it’s been that way for a little bit,” he said. “We have areas we have to clean up, we know what we’re doing, we have to get back to it.
“We have to get on the forecheck, get some pucks back, get through the neutral zone, that’s been a real problem for us, and we have to find a way to do a better job of it.”
The Oilers will face a tough challenge Saturday evening when the Central Division leading Colorado Avalanche (8-1-5) are in town.
“It’s a great challenge for us, a team that’s got our attention,” McDavid said.
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