"I See A Team That's Upbeat:" Oilers Riding High Of California Sweep

The Edmonton Oilers are six games into the season, haven't lost in regulation, and according to Connor McDavid, they're having a pretty good time doing it.

Edmonton improved to 5-0-1 on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings, completing a perfect three-game California road trip that included defensive improvements Mike Babcock has been working on since arriving in Edmonton.

While Vasily Podkolzin admitted last week that the new system can be boring at times, McDavid seems pretty pleased with what he's seeing from his teammates.

“I see a team that's upbeat. I see a team that's energetic,” McDavid said. “It's got speed. It's aggressive. Wins a lot of puck battles. Those are all great things, and if you do those things night after night, you're going to put together some wins.”

Everybody knows winning cures all, and after spending my entire university career working in college and professional sports, believe me, it really does. Players are in a good mood when they're winning, coaches have fewer things to yell about, and whatever complaints might exist tend to become a little less important when the team keeps collecting points.

That's certainly part of the reason for Edmonton's good mood, although it's still nice to hear McDavid describing a team that's enjoying itself while playing defensively sound hockey, which hasn't always come naturally to the Oilers.

Edmonton scored three times in the opening period, with McDavid recording a goal and two assists in his 800th NHL game, before spending much of the final 40 minutes defending its lead.

Los Angeles outshot the Oilers 29-10 over the final two periods and 40-17 overall, although Edmonton managed to keep the Kings from turning that possession into much of a comeback. Devon Levi made a career-high 39 saves, and Babcock was reasonably satisfied with the defensive work in front of him.

“I thought they had good chances. But they didn't have Grade A's, two-on-ones,” Babcock said. “I didn't think at any time we were fantastic tonight, but McDavid and the big boys were great. The goalie was fantastic. We just swept three games on the road and 4-0 on the road, so life's good.”

McDavid also seems to recognize how much the team has changed in a relatively short period of time.

“We're comfortable in a lot of different situations,” McDavid said. “We've won games 9-7. We've come back in games and gotten points. Saturday was a bit of a low-event game (3-1 win at San Jose), and we're comfortable in that too.

“This team's building its identity, building its structure. We're still trying to figure things out as we go, and I think we're only going to get better and better.”

Given that the Oilers have reached the Stanley Cup Final twice in recent years, one might wonder why this group has responded so well to Babcock's approach.

They've been winning, and there's something to be said for players seeing immediate results from the changes they're being asked to make. Edmonton has spent years hearing about its defensive problems, and through six games, there's some evidence to prove that those problems are being addressed.

Evan Bouchard has recorded six goals and 14 points through six games, while Edmonton has outscored its opponents 17-2 at even strength with him on the ice.

For a guy whose defensive mistakes usually become louder than his points total, it's nice to see.

Devon Levi has been getting plenty of support from the players in front of him. He just recorded a career-high night in blocked shots, and he appreciates what the Oilers accomplished despite being so heavily outshot.

“Honestly, it's pretty impressive how we're able to score ballistically, and also play a really solid defensive game,” Levi said. “I know the message that Babs sent is that we have better. I mean, if that's our bad game, that's a great game.

“That's a great bad game.”

Babcock wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the performance, pointing out that Edmonton's bottom three lines struggled and that the team has plenty of room to improve.

“I didn't love this tonight by any means,” Babcock said. “But our big boys were great, our back end was really solid, and I thought our goaltender was good. I didn't think our two, three, and four lines were as good as they have been, for whatever reason. But we're in a good spot for the injuries we have.”

And while winning is almost certainly contributing to the mood around the dressing room, it's encouraging to hear McDavid talk about his teammates being energetic and upbeat while they're learning a system that asks them to play a much more disciplined game.

If the Oilers can keep playing this way while maintaining the atmosphere McDavid described, they'll have a pretty good chance of making this one of their more enjoyable regular seasons in recent memory.

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