EDMONTON — They call it juice.
We can squabble over who did what to whom on last Saturday night, about how last spring’s playoff series might have gone if this guy had played, or had that penalty got called. And we can hate-tweet each other over goofy team statements and spats between star players.
“We need this,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, whose team needs a wake-up call after a slumberous loss to Buffalo last time out. “You’ve got to embrace it as a player. You want to play these games; you want to play in a heated rivalry. Like, who wants to play in a no-hit, nothing game? Those games suck.
“These are the games you play hockey for,” Tocchet declared. “This is a great game to coach, a great game to play.”
These two teams are 5-5 in their past 10 meetings, which embodies a seven-game second-round playoff series in last spring that ended in a one-goal game with the Oilers desperately clinging to their lead as the clock ticked down in Vancouver.
Since then, Edmonton has given its market another solid season with every reason to believe the team might duplicate or improve on the campaign prior. Meanwhile, the Canucks’ year has been like a carnival ride.
Vancouver played perhaps its sturdiest game of the season to beat the Oilers 3-2 on Saturday, then on Monday blew a lead and lost to last-place Buffalo, killing any momentum that might have built.
“We kind of want to get that last game behind us,” admitted Vancouver winger Jake DeBrusk, who drags a seven-game pointless streak into this one. “It’s always exciting for me to come home and play, but it’s more so the fact that we’ve got to right the ship after what we had against Buffalo.”
If the extra juice brings out more physicality in each team, frankly, we’re not sure that’s a game that best suits Edmonton.
“It’s important to establish ourselves physically, making sure that they have to stop their feet, especially their top players. (Making sure) that it’s a muddy track for them,” said Oilers depth winger Connor Brown. “But at the same time, not letting what makes our group so good slip away, and making sure that our puck play is good.
“It’s picking your spots,” Brown said. “When you have a chance to bury a guy, you bury him. When you have a chance to get some skin, you do.”
Tonight marks the second game of Connor McDavid’s three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland.
It’s always the same for the Oilers when McDavid is absent. Everyone wants to pick up a piece of the slack, but it always takes some time for players to figure which piece, and how best to do it.
“When you have a player of that calibre, it’s not like he comes out of the lineup and somebody steps into his place,” Brown said. “It just comes down to our team play. When we’re missing him is, it’s just focusing on how we play as a group, and making sure every guy kind of brings their game to the table.”
The power play is the place where McDavid’s absence is most noticeable. That cheat code zone entry, where McDavid carries it in and gets everything set up time after time, is conspicuous in its absence.
And because the captain is the one who tends to carry the puck around the O-zone and get everyone moving, the Oilers’ top unit always gets caught standing around when he’s not there. In their 3-2 loss to Washington on Monday, the power play went 0-for-3 with just three shots on net.
What does head coach Kris Knoblauch want to see tonight?
“Guys moving the puck faster, but also moving their feet a little bit more,” he said. “I think it was a little stagnant and it just didn’t create enough chances.”
They don’t come more honest and straight-forward than Tocchet, whose plate has been more than just full this season with all the happenings in Vancouver.
Us media types, we love all the drama that has emanated from Vancouver all season long. But for the head coach, does it ever just get exhausting?
“No, but I’ve got to be careful,” Tocchet began. “Sometimes you spend too much on certain players and you forget about the other people, right? Other guys have to be coached too.”
Tocchet, like most coaches, subscribes to the ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ philosophy. He feels that, when the Canucks finally push through this eventful season, they’ll be ready for anything.
“Whether it’s drama or unfortunate things that happen, you become stronger as a team. Adversity,” Tocchet said. “I’ve been … (on) three Stanley Cup teams, and there’s always been some confrontation in those years. There’s been something.
“We’re just getting a little bit more of our share, (but) can we come out of it stronger? That’s the way I look at it. Is there a positive out of this adversity?”
Here are your lines tonight. Both teams held optional skates Thursday morning, so there could be a tweak or two come game time.
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Janmark-Nugent-Hopkins-Brown
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Höglander-Sasson-Di Giuseppe