We know the Oilers can score. Your defensive ability will define Edmonton’s season

EDMONTON — For some, it’s been an anthem in this city ever since it became clear that Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid would cement the Edmonton Oilers as one of hockey’s best offensive teams for years to come.

They would always be able to score, but defense wins championships. So will the Oilers ever defend well enough to become a champion?

“Well,” head coach Jay Woodcroft began on the eve of Wednesday’s season opener against Vancouver, “we’re about to do that Test.”

In doing so, they have improved. But not enough to keep the Colorado Avalanche at bay in Round 3, where the Avs scored 22 goals in four games last season.

Last season, the Oilers finished 11th in the NHL with 104 points. They finished seventh in goals with 285 goals, but 18th in goals conceded (251 goals).

In the playoff period, only two teams averaged more goals per game than Edmonton’s 4.06, and one of those teams won the Stanley Cup. However, the Oilers’ 3.69 allowed goals per game ranked them 13th out of 16 playoff teams.

Only one team in the bottom half of the goals conceded per game table won a round and that was Edmonton, who of course won two rounds. Every other club spitting goals at odds of 3.29 or worse did not advance from Round 1.

To a degree, that makes the Oilers an anomaly, having lacked scoring chances throughout the postseason. Tet they managed to surpass their mistakes.

Can you win a Stanley Cup like that? History says no chance.

“That’s what this group has always been about – keeping the puck out of the net,” captain McDavid said Tuesday. “A lot has been done about it. We are not hiding from it.”

We plead guilty to McDavid’s second sentence and go back to the bubble where the Oilers lost a four-game series to Chicago, giving up 16 goals — just 4.00 a game.

From that series grew the column in which we explained that the Oilers would never take the next step until their two superstars – McDavid and Draisaitl – approached their defensive play with the same enthusiasm they displayed offensively. That was three years ago and we received a lot of criticism for this column.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” McDavid said when asked what stood between his team and a playoff win. “Obviously we are missing something. I don’t know what it is and I’m sure everyone will regroup and try to find out.”

Today, Draisaitl is one of the better defensive centermen in the NHL. He wins ties, kills penalties, plays injured…. You couldn’t ask for more from the great German at both ends of the ice.

As for McDavid, we can honestly say that the best game we’ve ever seen him play was Game 6 of Round 1, a 4-2 win over the Kings in a competitive game in Los Angeles. McDavid had one goal and two assists and was up plus-3 by 24:02 Ice Time.

We’ve seen all of his five-point nights and every one of those goals where he goes through an entire team to score. That night in Los Angeles, where McDavid simply refused to lose a fight or give an inch defensively, was the best game we’ve ever seen him play.

Two nights later, the Oilers beat LA 2-0 in Game 7, allowing for their lowest shots in the playoffs (29). They found out – in round 1 against a round 1 underdog.

Now, can they maintain that defensive stance against the big boys in Rounds 2, 3 and (dare we say) 4?

“We understand we’re an attacking group,” said McDavid. “We have to come together to keep the puck out of our net and I think the goals will come. But it is more important to prevent them from entering our network.”

Is that defensive corps good enough with a top pair of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci followed by Brett Kulak and Evan Bouchard? Will it be good enough if the Oilers hit Anaheim’s John Klingberg hard at the close, a prediction we’ll make today?

As they say, it’s a process. One that starts Wednesday night against the Canucks where we can look at a starting point for both teams.

They will build their game from there.

“The hockey you see in October is not the hockey you see in May and June,” McDavid said. “There is certainly growth that is happening throughout the year.

“But I think the teams that get to their game quickest are the ones that are most successful early on. The teams that bring that energy and intensity to October get off to the best start. That’s the way it is, so we have to be one of those teams.”

Edmonton opens its season with a six-game homestand.

If their clean sheets are under 3.00 when they hit the road, the Oilers will be a very difficult opponent this season.