Oilers Takeaways: Tomasek, Kapanen settling in on bottom six

EDMONTON — If Connor McDavidâ€s performance was any indication, then itâ€s time to ditch the pre-season and start playing for reals.

Try as he might, almost nothing went the way of the Edmonton Oilers captain in a 3-2 overtime loss at Vancouver Friday night. Right into OT, where the trio of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard were on for all 90 seconds and dead tired as Conor Garland dissected them for a solo dash that gave the Vancouver Canucks the victory.

Let the record show, this was the last eight-game pre-season weâ€ll see — hopefully forever — and McDavid wasnâ€t bad. He just couldnâ€t finish anything he started.

Next year the pre-season will be limited to four games, with the regular season bumping up two games to 84. But a 4-2-2 pre-season record is just fine for an Oilers team that is breaking in a few new faces after another short summer, even if they only played one good period in Vancouver according to head coach Kris Knoblauch, who thought his team over-passed somewhat.

“Making the extra pass, the extra move… You end up giving the puck away,†Knoblauch said.

Pre-season lends itself to a game thatâ€s not played in straight lines. But the truth is, when Calgary visits Rogers Place for the season opener on Wednesday, a straight-ahead effort by a superior Oilers roster should be enough to beat the Flames.

Get too cute, and you open the door for an upset.

With a couple of young wingers, plus David Tomasek and Andrew Mangiapane new to the roster, a veteran whose name was rarely spoken in Edmonton this summer and fall was Kasperi Kapanen.

So, he went out and scored three pre-season goals, stepping into a Tomasek drop pass on Edmontonâ€s first goal, ripping a slapper past a chanceless Thatcher Demko.

Kapanenâ€s speed, size and experience — on a one-year deal at $1.3 million — gets overlooked sometimes. But heâ€s found a level of consistency in Edmontonâ€s bottom six that none of Toronto, Pittsburgh or St. Louis received. If he brings his game consistently, he helps you win — full stop.

Meanwhile Tomasek, who set up Kapanenâ€s goal, looks like heâ€ll be part of things as the season opens. Heâ€s manning Zach Hymanâ€s spot down low on the power play, and was robbed on a redirect of a McDavid pass by Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko.

“It was a long pre-season, but Iâ€m happy I got those games. I needed them,†said the 29-year-old, playing his first season in North America. “You need the games to be able to be with the team, and everyone is excited about Wednesday.”

Howâ€s he finding his way in the PP?

“Just trying to ask what the guys need, work with the coaches, try and be available. Iâ€m happy we were able to score one in the second (Draisaitl) — on a different look. A different set up.â€

Stu Skinner missed his scheduled start Friday. He took the morning skate in Edmonton but didnâ€t feel well enough to take the flight to Vancouver, as a bug rips through the team.

Calvin Pickard went the distance instead, allowing a pair of one-timer blasts from Jonathan Lekkerimaki to elude him as well as Garlandâ€s solo dash in OT, while Matt Tomkins was called up from Bakersfield to back up.

Knoblauch said that Jake Walman and Max Jones were both day-to-day to be available for the home opener, while Mattias Janmark is out at least a week, also with an undisclosed injury.

Here is how the Oilers lined up in Vancouver:

Draisaitl – McDavid – Frederic
Podkolzin – RNH – Mangiapane
Henrique – Philp – Savoie
Howard – Tomasek – Kapanen

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch got a well-deserved three-year deal on Friday, worth $2.75 million annually.

The money is great, weâ€ll assume. But so is the stability, for a guy who has coached in six cities since his first job as an assistant coach for the Prince Albert Raiders, 19 seasons ago.

“My daughter is still in high school.,†said Knoblauch, whose son plays for the Edmonton Huskies junior football team. “Theyâ€ve been moving around so many times. (There is) some stability, some security in staying around — sheâ€ll be able to finish high school here in Edmonton without having to move again. Weâ€re all very happy about that.â€

Knoblauch arrived in on the heels of Jay Woodcroft being fired, just 13 games into the 2023-34 season. He took that Oilers team all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, then did it again last season.

It canâ€t be easy to walk into a dressing room of a team that was supposed to challenge for a Stanley Cup, yet is floundering enough early in the year to gets its coach fired.

How did he get the players to respect him right away?

“The most important thing is being yourself,†the 47-year-old said. “Not trying to do something that would be out of character. You might be able to pull it off for a while, but the players pick up on that. Itâ€s phony, not genuine, insincere, and it wonâ€t go very far.

“Any coaching position Iâ€ve had — whether it was junior, the American League or the NHL — Iâ€ve tried to treat it the same. Theyâ€re different players, and a different level, but theyâ€re still hockey players and coaching hockey is still coaching hockey.

“It was always a good hockey team that was going to correct itself sooner or later. I donâ€t think it was myself coming in that had that much of an impact.â€

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