Oilers put their ‘work boots on’ and overwhelm Mammoth after ugly start

EDMONTON — At some point, “a collective effort of just not being there†wasnâ€t going to cut it.

The author of that quote, Edmonton head line-mixer Kris Knoblauch, knew heâ€d finally seen enough when he walked back into the coach’s office after Period 1, his team trailing 2-0 after tallying up 16 turnovers on line rushes by his Oilers on Tuesday.

Sixteen times theyâ€d grabbed the puck and exited their zone against the Utah Mammoth, rolling over centre as one. And 16 times theyâ€d given the puck away, messed up a pass, or in Darnell Nurseâ€s case, rifled an attempted dump-in off of linesman Travis Toomey, and watched it go back the other way and end up in Edmontonâ€s net.

So Knoblauch brought a message to his team in the dressing room at the intermission.

“Our message was, we have to work. We can’t just show up and think our skill is going to take over and win us hockey games,†he said. “We turned over the puck on line rushes, I counted 16 times. You’re probably looking at maybe two or three a period, ideally. From a coach’s standpoint, it’d be zero.

“We turned it over 16 times on the attack.â€

By now youâ€ve likely heard that the Oilers responded with five second-period goals, all at even strength, in a 6-3 win over the Large Furry Elephants. But as the now 5-4-2 Oilers entered their second 10-game segment of the season, they were mired in the same disconnected, uninspired and sloppy game that has plagued Edmonton for three straight Octobers.

Individually, the Oilers have been, for the most part, poor. As such, theyâ€ve not found their identity as a team — until about 8:30 p.m. MT Tuesday, just as the Toronto Blue Jays were coasting through the last couple innings of Game 4 of the World Series.

“I think everybody felt enough was enough,†said big Mattias Ekholm. “I can go to myself — I havenâ€t liked my game at all the last five, six games. I donâ€t think many guys in here have.â€

Ekholm followed the play off the opening faceoff of Period 2, received a magical pass from Leon Draisaitl, and blasted a puck over Karel Vejmelkaâ€s shoulder just 22 seconds into the frame to start the turnaround for Edmonton.

After an intermission of soul-searching, that goal perhaps began the transformation from sleepy Stanley Cup finalist to hungry Stanley Cup contender once again.

“It was kind of coming to a point where we were like, ‘OK, we need to start putting our work boots on.†And kudos to us, we responded in that second period,†Ekholm said. “We found our game, and that has to be the standard going forward. Everybody in this league is too good where you can just coast your way through a regular season. You have to put your work boots on. Thatâ€s No. 1 and everybody realized that today.â€

And as always seems to happen, when a team turns the quality of its game around, its puck luck turns as well.

Ike Howard buried one from the slot for his second of the season just five minutes after Ekholmâ€s goal. Then, after a Stu Skinner mishandle gave Utah another lead, Draisaitl and Ty Emberson buried nearly identical rebound goals from open space to Vejmelkaâ€s left.

“We hadnâ€t had a rebound goal yet this year before the second period,†said Knoblauch. “We were due.â€

Itâ€s funny — no team in the Western Conference can say it has played more important games over the past three seasons than the Oilers. Theyâ€ve thrived when the stakes are at their highest, and proven they have the mettle to win games at the most difficult, challenging time of year.

Then a new season starts, and they scuffle along, trying in vain to find some semblance of their May game every October.

“If you look back at it, since Iâ€ve been here this has been the best start weâ€ve ever had,†said Ekholm, only half-joking. “Obviously, we want to start better. But I donâ€t know that recipe I guess, because Iâ€ve been here three tries and none has worked.â€

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It is as if an early dose of humility serves as an annual reminder that what makes the Oilers a superior team isnâ€t the flash and dash. Instead, itâ€s the work ethic that underpins all that skill.

The sexiest house you could ever build is still fully dependent on the concrete foundation that you never see. That foundation was rediscovered on Tuesday against a Utah team that had won seven straight, and allowed the skill to lead Edmonton to a decisive win.

“Thereâ€s been greater teams than us that have played worse,†reasoned Ekholm. “Itâ€s one of those things: there is a quiet confidence in here. I wasnâ€t necessarily nervous or panicking or anything like that just because we had a .500 start after 10 games.

“But you never know.â€

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