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Turnaround complete?

OK, that might be some wishful thinking for a team that just won two games in a row for the first time this season, but it’s a start.

Maybe it was the guilt talking. Maybe it was the desperation. And maybe new head coach Kris Knoblauch whispered something in their ears that struck a chord.

Whatever it was, the Edmonton Oilers won their first game at Rogers Place this season, 4-1 over the New York Islanders, with some tight defence, timely offence and steady netminding. Basically all of the things that were leaking oil when Jay Woodcroft got fired.

It wasn’t quite the script anyone expected, though. The surge of adrenaline and energy that one might expect from a team playing its first game under a new coach never really materialized.

The Oilers were slow out of the gate, giving up a goal in the first minute, and were held to three shots through the first 19 minutes of the second period.

Old habits die hard, apparently.

But the biggest priority right now is cutting back on goals against so 1-1 after 40 minutes was a step in the right direction.

Then two power play goals in the third period — another one of their early-season weaknesses — from Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid turned the tide for good. Evander Kane added the empty netter.

So far, so good for Knoblauch.

Knoblauch is 1-0 but knows that changing the guy behind the bench isn’t going to be near enough to turn the team around and save the season. He’s the first to admit the ultimate turnaround will have to come from within the dressing room.

“Obviously, there have to be changes because of the record, but just changing the person up here talking at the podium or in the dressing room or rolling lines is not going to make a difference,” he said, adding this isn’t something a system change will remedy.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re not doing anything drastic, we just have to be better at executing some details and things will look after themselves.

“It’s really important that players feel themselves, feel confident and put the start of the season behind them.”

Knoblauch has been watching the Oilers recent history and doesn’t think they’ve forgotten how to play tight hockey, just that they’ve been trying to force things.

“The passion is there, the work ethic is there,” he said. “But I think there’s the frustration of ‘I have to make it happen this shift’ and mistakes were piling up that way.”

BIG GUNS FIRE

It was a much better night for the top end of Edmonton’s roster, with Draisaitl getting a goal and three assists and McDavid adding a goal and an assist.

If they’re back, this is huge. The Oilers limped out of the gate for a myriad of reasons, but one of them was cold-handed snipers. After finishing first and second in league scoring last season, with 153 and 128 points, they’d been struggling for traction this year.

McDavid came into the game in a 26-way tie for 113th in NHL scoring with 10 points in 11 games. He hadn’t scored in eight games and didn’t have a single point in the three-game road trip that got Jay Woodcroft fired.

Draisaitl came in with one goal in his previous 10 games.

SPLITTING IT UP

Knoblauch cut the ice up pretty evenly through most of the game, with Derek Ryan playing 3:27 in the opening 20 minutes and McDavid playing 6:01. His goal is to get all four lines involved so they can have an impact and create an identity and you can’t accomplish that by throwing them a couple of shifts a period.

“It’s important to have your third and fourth line contributing and having an identity, but when the top two lines are playing so much it takes away from their line. It creates problems.”

The Oilers were down to 11 forwards for the third period after Dylan Holloway slid into the boards late in the second and suffered a lower-body injury.

IN THE HUNT

Edmonton is six points out of a playoff spot, which doesn’t sound like much with 68 games to go, but there is a big difference between sitting ninth place, seven points out, and being in 15th and seven points out.

The Oilers will have to be three or four games better down the stretch than Calgary, Nashville, Chicago, Minnesota, Seattle, Arizona and St. Louis or Anaheim. Every night one of those teams is going to be collecting points.

Still, Draisaitl believes this is definitely something that can be turned around in a hurry, if not immediately.

“I hope so. I’ve seen this group play in the past, play really good hockey. There is no excuses here not to just play better hockey, it’s pretty simple.”

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