[4-2 WIN] Oilers Viktor; Knock Ducks Off Hiller Fasth

[guymez]

The Oilers absolutely stunk down the stretch last season, the last 2 games were fools gold (got vastly outplayed by the Wild despite winning and played the AHL Canucks).
I don't remember them playing that well down the stretch of the Renney years either.

I'm not saying that this will carry over into next season but there has been a distinct uptick in their play ever since the Scrivens trade (I believe they are over .500 since then). They have still had a few stinkers like the Buffalo and Calgary debacles but this is the most organized that i've seen the team against high quality opposition in a long while. There's still some missed defensive assignments, cheating on offense and poor passing at times but the team has clearly been tougher to play against over this last while.

It would be nice if they came out of the gate strong next season and set the tone that it will not be another lost season and they still have a long ways to go obviously, but it does look like slowly but surely that they are starting to come together a bit.

I agree that Scrivens has had an impact...he has been the main reason why the Oilers have had any wins in the month of March.

The wins are fine but that's not the barometer of measure for me.

I have no idea why it takes 70+ games to commit to playing defense. Its a simple decision. The execution may not be there right away but the decision took far too long.

There have been sporadic signs of improvement lately. All things considered maybe thats as good as it gets for now. Maybe in another 60+ games the players will figure out that its not enough to get back on defence. They have to actually take their eyes off of the puck and cover somebody.

Maybe they will figure out that it doesnt pay to flee their dzone early and cheat for offence.

A big issue for me is that too many of these players are fundamentally flawed...I recognize that the roster is rife with holes but as far as the core group goes this ship is taking way way too long to turn around.