Edmonton Oilers catching breaks before the playoffs even start

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Everyone who’s ever gone on a deep playoff run will tell you that a lot of things need to fall your way.

It takes talent, muscle, hunger and strategy to go three or four rounds, but no team ever wins without catching a break or two along the journey.

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Well, good news for the Edmonton Oilers: The post season hasn’t even started yet and they’ve already caught three.

After a wild final night of the regular season in which the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings took turns choking away an opportunity to finish third in the Pacific Division, the ice chips finally settled.

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And they settled Edmonton’s way. Three times.

After playing six games in nine days, the Oilers get three full days of rest before Game 1 Monday, which is a big deal for a team that was running on fumes. Seventeen games in the final 30 days of the season, closing it out with six games in nine nights, is no joke. Now they get to catch their breath.

They also open at home against an L.A. team they’ve owned for the better part of three years and, having eliminated Los Angeles in each of the last two seasons and winning winning nine of the last 12 meetings overall.

And, as an added bonus, the double-dealing Vegas Golden Knights, by virtue of season-ending 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks (lol) now have to get through Dallas and the Central Division.

Things couldn’t have worked out any better if the Oilers scripted it.

At the risk of sounding like Toronto Maple Leafs fans chanting “We want Florida,” last year, only to get steamrolled by Florida in five games (lol), Los Angeles is the opponent Oilers fans want in the first round.

Los Angeles won’t even try to match Edmonton’s high-end talent and are a distant second best in the goaltending department. Their only hope is to try and beat Edmonton at a game the Oilers have already mastered.

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L.A.’s choking 1-3-1 system used to give Edmonton problems, but the Oilers have finally embraced the patience and discipline necessary to break it down and win.

Now, in a close, low-scoring, low-event game there is very little margin for error — you are always one goal away from being in trouble — but the Oilers have acquitted themselves quite well in L.A.’s environment.

As Leon Draisaitl said on the morning of Edmonton’s last meeting with Los Angles, a 4-1 win in late March: “We know exactly how this game is going to go, and we’re going to be ready for it.”

This is also a deeper, better and more experienced foe than what the Kings faced in each of the last two years. After two failed runs at a Cup, going three rounds deep two years ago and two rounds deep last year, the Oilers are more zoned in and determined than they’ve ever been.

They know what it takes to win and what it feels like to lose.

All they’ve talked about all year, whether it was when they were winning 16 games in a row, Zach Hyman was hitting 50 goals or Connor McDavid reaching 100 assists, was how playoffs are the only thing that really matters.

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They know that a Stanley Cup window isn’t permanent. A team only gets so many honest looks at a title and this is their third one in three years. The time to deliver is right now.

They showed serious mettle to pull out of an early tailspin and turn it into home ice advantage in the first round. They’re in the right head space and they’ve been there all year (2-9-1 start notwithstanding).

Of course, beating a team three playoffs series in a row can be dicey. Eventually the other guys are going to figure something out. And Edmonton isn’t the only team in this series that’s boasting some well-earned battle scars.

The Kings, like any team that makes the playoffs, are better for the experience and will be plenty motivated to finally slay the Oiler dragon. Give them a breath of life (Edmonton is 1-8 in the first game of a playoff series in the McDavid era) and the Kings will be swimming in adrenaline.

So here we are. While the season certainly didn’t start out the way most people imagined it would, it finished right on schedule, with the Oilers playing solid hockey and positioning themselves among a handful of Stanley Cup contenders.

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They are deeper and heavier than they’ve ever been before, with Warren Foegele emerging as a 20-goal scorer, Adam Henrique bringing offence and versatility and Corey Perry adding a long-missing ingredient that makes Edmonton a different team.

In goal, Stuart Skinner is much more rested than he was last season, when the Oilers made the mistake of playing him 20 of the final 25 games. This year he played 15 of the final 25 and just six of the last 11.

And Calvin Pickard has proven he can step in and win. Given an opportunity, he elevated himself from temporary stop gap while Jack Campbell figured things out to being a viable option.

Things are definitely falling into place. 

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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