Throughout the Edmonton Oilers` regular season, which sometimes seemed indifferent or inconsistent, there was a circulating idea that they were intentionally preserving their energy.
Their deep playoff run the previous year, which fell just two goals shy of the Stanley Cup, seemingly taught the team a valuable lesson: conserve more energy for the playoffs to ensure they have enough left in the tank deep into June.
Personally, I never fully subscribed to the notion that players would deliberately temper their regular-season output with the aim of saving up a six-month reserve of energy.
Could it have been, however, an unavoidable, subconscious factor?
Could the players, with the memory of their championship dream ending just short in Florida last June, have navigated the season with an unintentional, involuntary `foot on the brake`?
Head coach Kris Knoblauch, who was the only team representative available on Friday, acknowledged, “I know for me, stepping behind the bench at the start of the regular season and exhibition, I thought, ‘Wow, this isn’t Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.’”
He added, “And that’s just me, wearing a suit. Imagine the players, in their gear, hitting the ice and involved in the play every single night.”
Tristan Blackwood