Yes we had a very nice and surprising winning streak going but one has to be honest and understand that was not the way it will be this year. Yes the players and coaching staff want to win, play to win and expect to win every game as they should. If they didn't play that way there would be huge issues but too the fans we expect to see an effort, growth this year sprinkled with some disappointments and surprises along the way. The recent winning streak is just one of the pleasant surprises this but will not be the normal this year.
The problems of this recent winning streak were reflected in the last win against tampa were the Oilers generated a whopping 1 shot in the third and even more apparent with the next two losses against vancouver and then Toronto.
The team got to too confident, too cocky and fell in that crazy habit of many past Oiler teams of "why shoot when I can pass". It is like they forget what got them the wins, hard work, solid basic play, going to the net and taking the shot! The last couple of games it is like they were more concerned about making the pretty TSN HON play that actually sticking to the basics and just shooting the puck and crashing the net.
The next games will be a real test of the coaching staff and the players themselves. Can they get out of this slump and be competitive again? Will we see solid efforts again? will they get back to the basics of pressure in all zones, shooting the puck and crashing the net? We can only hope that they learn from this past winning streak and shot drought of the past few games.
NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!
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