EDMONTON — They played a game of “say Connor McDavid is playing Sunday, without saying Connor McDavid is playing Sunday,” as McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers practised Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
“It’s feeling good,” McDavid said of the upper-body injury that has kept him out of the Oilers’ last two games.
“A lot of progress, and I felt really good today in practice. So, a lot of good signs.
“I feel like it’s in a really good place.”
Had coach Jay Woodcroft, who is known to be cagey about his lineup even in pre-season, said this on the eve of the Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames: “We’ll see, but he looked pretty good to me. I thought today was a good day, a good step. We’ll see how he is when he wakes up in the morning.”
It’s hard to ask NHL players how McDavid’s presence in the lineup makes a team better, but we did our best.
“Not a very bright question, but you knew that already,” began Leon Draisaitl, with a chuckle. “He’s the best player in the world and he has been for I don’t know how many years. So he’s going to give us something that you can’t replace.
“So, yeah, if he’s in we’re very excited.”
Warren Foegele, Edmonton’s most consistent forward through seven games, skated on the left side of a line with McDavid and Draisaitl at Saturday’s practice. It looked like Stuart Skinner would get the start in goal.
Feeling the Heat
We would defy you to find an outdoor game on the NHL calendar with two teams more desperate for a victory. Usually these games happen a lot closer to the midway point of the season, as opposed to this one between two teams that are having disastrous starts.
You can sense the frustration building with the Oilers, for sure, “especially 10 minutes after a game,” Draisaitl admits.
As a fan, you can accuse your team of playing poorly, being inconsistent, whatever. But if you think they don’t care, you are way off base.
“We all live it. We’re all in it with everything we have,” Draisaitl said of the Oilers’ struggles. “You think about it all day, every day. You’re in it with everything you have, and when it doesn’t go your way, I think it’s human nature to show frustration every once in a while.”
Woodcroft is just trying to get the game out of his team that he has become accustomed to since arriving in Edmonton. A game he has not seen yet this season.
“This team, over the last two years, has won over 100 games. We’ve played five playoff rounds, which is as much as anybody’s played over the last two years. We have a lot of really good hockey players,” he said. “We haven’t played to our potential — we’re aware of that. We are working to make sure that we take a step tomorrow.”
Mirror, Mirror…
Even though the Flames have twice as many wins (two) as the Oilers (one), the visitors are just as desperate to snap out of an identical four-game losing skid.
“It’s a big game — always a big game in Edmonton but a little extra this time,” said Mikael Backlund, who will be the only man to skate in all three Flames outdoor games.
“They’re in the same boat pretty much, so one team is going to feel a lot better about themselves waking up Monday.”
The other team, well…
“This is a pretty unique opportunity to hit the reset button,” said Blake Coleman, cherishing a chance to skate and share the weekend with his family.
“Somebody’s got to come out with a win and somebody can really use that to springboard their season.”
Ice, Ice, Baby
The Flames practised at 6:30 p.m. local time Saturday, giving them a chance to experience the rink at night.
Coming out in their tuques and game jerseys, the Flames took a team picture and then got down to testing the conditions.
Some players wore tinted visors, others were sporting turtlenecks, balaclavas and even eye black.
Coleman was asked if his eye black helped reduce glare or if it was a tribute to Texas football.
“I think for the most part guys just want to put on some war paint,” smiled the Texan, who played two outdoor games in college.
“Some guys might claim it works. I just do it for the experience.”
Jacob Markstrom said that while he played the bulk of his youth hockey outdoors, the Swedish netminder still isn’t sure what to expect in terms of sightlines Sunday.
“From what I can tell, I don’t think it’s going to matter that much,” said the Flames’ starter, who fielded several high dump-ins during Saturday’s skate to practice picking it out of the dark sky.
“The lighting was good, the ice was good – it’s the same for the guy across from me.”
Coach Ryan Huska went with new lines once again, putting Dryden Hunt on Elias Lindholm’s unit with Dillon Dube.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Matt Coronato make up the second line, with hopes they can all help each other climb out of a scoring drought that has seen the Flames go almost two full games without a goal.
Adam Ruzicka tested his injured shoulder during the skate once again, but is still day to day.
The Flames punctuated practice with a family skate that saw wives, girlfriends, kids and parents join them on the ice.
Another nice distraction from the bind the Flames are in.
Of all the memories Flames players have shared about their past outdoor experiences, Andrew Mangiapane’s was one of the funniest.
“I remember being a little cold on the bench,” said Mangiapane of the 2019 game in Regina against the Winnipeg Jets. “I didn’t really play much that game, so I was sitting there, hiding behind Looch (Milan Lucic) for him to block the wind for me.”
