Road-weary Oilers return home to face Red Wings (Mar 04, 2017)
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers endured arguably the most difficult schedule of any NHL team from October through February, but have remained solidly in the hunt for the Pacific Division title.
Now, the road-weary Oilers will spend nearly the entire remainder of the season at Rogers Place.
The Oilers kick off an eight-game homestand Saturday, when the Detroit Red Wings visit. Of the Oilers' 18 remaining games, only five are on the road -- and all of those road dates are relatively short jaunts within the Mountain or Pacific time zones.
No more long plane rides. More time for practice days. For a team looking to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade, it's time to take advantage of home ice.
"Guys are professional in here, they know what they need to do," said Oilers left winger Patrick Maroon, who's scored 20 goals this season. "They know how to take care of themselves down the stretch and how to prepare for games. It's all in the head, now. It's all mental. This is where the grind starts coming in. This is where the fun starts. If you're not having fun at this part of the hockey season, you shouldn't be in this spot."
But Maroon stressed the Oilers can't afford to take any of their glut of home games for granted.
"This is where you can't get too relaxed," said Maroon. "Sometimes, when you're at home, you get in that groove where you get too relaxed, when, on the road, you're playing every other day."
Saturday's game against the Wings will see the Oilers debut of center David Desharnais, who Edmonton acquired from Montreal in exchange for defenseman Brandon Davidson the day before the trade deadline. Desharnais skated with the team's third line in practice.
"It's a fresh start, and hopefully I get the best out of it," said Desharnais. "I was a first-liner, second-liner, now I'm OK with that role (third-line center). If I can help the team here with wins, and if that's the role I am going to have, it's perfect. I can't wait."
The Red Wings have not missed the playoffs since the 1989-90 season; but, near the bottom the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings don't come into Edmonton with the fearsome reputation the franchise had earned over the last quarter of a century. The Wings' once-vaunted offence isn't scary anymore. Left winger Tomas Tatar leads the team's scoring race with just 15 goals. That's right -- there's a real chance that this team might not have a single 20-goal scorer.
In contrast, three Oilers -- Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Maroon -- have all broken the 20-goal mark.
The Wings' date in Edmonton is the third of a five-game road swing. Detroit got points in the first two games of the trip; they beat the 3-2 Vancouver Canucks in overtime, then lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames Friday night. So, there is still fight in the Red Wings.
Tatar, who scored with 0.4 seconds left in regulation Friday to send the game against the Flames into overtime, said the Wings will be collected and ready to face the Oilers on the heels of such an emotional loss.
"That's just the way what the league is," he said." That's no excuse. Lots of team having it this way. Obviously, those games are a little harder, but we just have to push through. That's why you practice all summer to get through these games and we are ready."
Detroit right winger Anthony Mantha said the Wings need to take the positives fro the Calgary game into Edmonton on Saturday.
"We thought we had a good chance tonight," said Mantha. "I think we played a pretty good game, a lot of shots on net. We need to build off of that for tomorrow night."
While the Oilers play the Wings Saturday, Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard is expected to start in goal for the team's AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich. Howard is on a conditioning stint in the minors as he prepares to rejoin the Red Wings after injuring his knee on Dec. 20.
