Edmonton Oilers know the formula well because it’s the same one teams used against them during the humbling Decade of Darkness.
You take most of the night off against an inferior bottom dweller, teasing them a glimmer of false hope, then show up just long enough to bury them in the third period and walk away with two points like the result was never in doubt.
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And so it was Monday afternoon in Arizona, where the Oilers went through the motions for 40 minutes, falling behind 3-2 to a team that hasn’t won a game in a month, before getting serious with a four-goal third period and a 6-3 decision.
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“We came out ready to play in the third period,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, who had a feeling that might happen. “You can tell you’re playing a young, fragile team on a losing streak and feeling very tight.
“We took advantage of it and our level of urgency was a little higher in the third period and it paid off.”
The Oilers were sleepy and disinterested for most of the game, but when they got down to business it was over in a hurry.
They took the Coyotes out behind the barn and gave them the Old Yeller Special, with Evander Kane scoring at 4:28, Zach Hyman at 4:54 and Kane again at 6:31 to turn Arizona’s vision of an upset into their 10th-straight defeat.
“When things aren’t going our way or we don’t have our best game going it’s about staying composed and not panicking,” said Kane, who has six goals in his last six games.
“It’s knowing that if we hang around long enough and get our game in order we can pull it out and this was a good example of that this afternoon.”
Warren Foegele added an empty netter as Edmonton, once riding a 16-game winning streak, wins two in row for the first time since returning from the bye week seven games ago (4-3-0).
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“We talked about that, how we didn’t have back-to-back wins for about three weeks,” said Knoblauch. “One of those weeks was All Star break, but getting back-to-back wins feels good and we want to build on that.”
You could see this one coming from across the street. After taking down the powerhouse Dallas Stars in a spirited battle last game, there was no way the Oilers were going to stumble against a team on a nine-game losing streak, playing its second of back-to-back games with a guy in net who was making his very first NHL start.
That would be like breaking par at Pebble Beach and then shooting 101 at the pitch and putt behind Crazy Kenny’s Reptile Farm.
Still, the Oilers played down to the level of the hapless Coyotes for 40 minutes (below the level of the hapless Coyotes, actually, since they were trailing 3-2 and only had 14 shots on net at the second intermission).
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But when it mattered, they played like it did.
“We were a little slow in the second period, spent a little too much time win our own end,” said Kane. “In order to win this game we knew we had to come out and play in their end. We did a great job of getting on top of them a little quicker.”
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Knoblauch moved Ryan McLeod to the second line with Kane and Leon Draisaitl for the third period and it paid off — the trio scored twice and McLeod finished a team-high plus three.
“I don’t want to get in the habit of changing things up but we got outplayed in the second period, they carried the play,” said Knoblauch. “We just needed a little something to change things up.”
LEAKING GOALS
After that great run of 14-straight games without allowing more than two goals against, the Oilers have now allowed three or more goal in seven straight games for 26 in total.
The penalty kill continues to wade through the quicksand, too. It allowed its 10th goal against on the last 19 power plays over the last six games. One of their biggest strengths a few weeks ago is now their most glaring weakness.
BROWN SITTING DOWN
After going 44 games without a goal this season and falling from first line right wing with Connor McDavid to single-digit even strength minutes on Edmonton’s fourth line, Connor Brown sat out Monday’s game as a healthy scratch.
The Brown experiment has been an abject failure so far, one that will also haunt the team next season when the $3.25 million in bonus money he earned for playing 10 games this year kicks in.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
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NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
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AP tennis:
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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