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 Hours later, the Oilers threw a whole bag of tricks at the Senators
in a 7-2 pounding at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.
Led by a two goal, one assist performance from winger Jordan Eberle,
the Oilers had six different scorers to kick off a four game road
trip. Their power play also went 3-for-3 against the worst penalty
killing unit in the NHL as they won their second game in row.
McDavid, the rookie phenom, was held to just two assists in his
second game back from a broken collarbone.
"Our power play has kind of been the catalyst for our team ... we've
scored five goals in the last two games," said Eberle. "That's key.
Any time you have a good power play, it causes the other team, I
don't want to say play soft, but they want to be a little bit aware
of how they are going to play and not take penalties. That's been
huge."
Also scoring for Edmonton were defensemen Mark Fayne, Andrej Sekera
and Brandon Davidson, winger Zack Kassian and center Leon Draisaitl.
Wingers Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone replied for the Senators, who
lost the third in a row and for the fifth time in the last six
games.
The Senators spent the days leading up to the game talking about how
they have to show more pride, especially defensively. Somewhere
between the meeting rooms and the ice, the words were lost.
Cameron, however, feels this is no time for him to tear a strip off
his players.
"What would that do?," he said. "That was a spark in the 60s and
70s. It's not a spark with today's athlete. They know. So am I going
to go in and embarrass them? No. I'm going to give them some
solutions. I'm not going to yell and scream. Them days are gone.
That went out with the brawl and the bench clearing."
He also maintained he's not close to losing his patience.
"Not at all," Cameron. "They need me now.
"It's from the neck up now. It's going to be about attitude, and how
you coach, and being a pro, and how we're going to end this."
Despite vowing to have better starts, the Senators gave up the first
goal of the game for a league-leading 35th time. Cameron replaced
starting goalie Craig Anderson when he surrendered three goals on
the first 10 shots by the 11:41 mark. He was replaced by Andrew
Hammond, who allowed four more on 18 shots.
At the other end of the ice, Oilers goalie Cam Talbot made 36 saves.
"It's my job to be prepared," Hammond said of coming in cold. "It's
one of those things, you try to just get the team jump started, and
off the hop it looked like that might be the case. Ultimately it
wasn't the case.
"We're proud people. We're proud to be Ottawa Senators. When things
don't go your way and you have results like this, it's more than
frustrating."
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The Oilers saw their three-goal lead narrowed to one when Stone
scored at 6:56 of the second period, but they pulled away with one
before the intermission and three in the third.
"I think we played well offensively and we didn't give up too much
defensively against a very good offensive team," said McDavid. "I
think we'll be happy with that."
Meanwhile, Ottawa fans who came to the rink hoping to get a solid
dose of McDavid were shortchanged, as the rookie played just 13
minutes and 22 seconds.
Oilers coach Todd McLellan said he limited McDavid's ice time
because the score was one-sided.
"He normally would get six of seven minutes more," said McLellan.
"He was dynamic.
"This was a team win tonight. Connor played a huge part in it. I'm
not going to down play what he can do and what he does and the
energy he brings to our team, but I don't want to discredit any of
the other players that block shots and penalty killed and took hits
and there were a few fights. It takes all of those types of players
to win a game. Connor is a big part of it, but it takes a group to
win; it doesn't matter how good you are."
Meanwhile, the Senators remain stuck for answers.
"The mind is reeling a bit after that one," center Zack Smith said
after the team held a closed-door meeting. "When they score that
many goals and they score the first one again ...
"I don't know if we're too hesitant when that happens. But we let
them gain the zone and there's guys open in the slot, Grade A
scoring chances ... I don't know. I don't know where to start with
that one."
NOTES: Senators D Marc Methot returned to the lineup after missing
six games with a lower-body injury. To make room on the blue line,
Senators D Jared Cowen was a healthy scratch for the 14th time this
season. ... Senators C Kyle Turris missed his seventh game with a
lower-body injury. Turris has resumed skating, but he is not yet
practicing with the team. ... Oilers D Justin Schultz returned to
the lineup after missing one game because of an illness. ... Oilers
D Brandon Davidson returned after missing two games with an
undisclosed injury. ... Oilers scratched D Griffin Reinhart, D Adam
Clendening and C Anton Lander.
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