Struggling Edmonton Oilers ramp it up at Monday’s practice

The Edmonton Oilers weren’t messing around as they returned to practice on Monday.

Battle drills were the order of the day as the team continues to try to work its way out of a slump that has lasted more than a month.

“I think we have to defend better, and that’s battling. Sometimes it’s just battling a little harder,” said head coach Dave Tippett.

“You’ve got to win more battles to keep the puck out of your net.”

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It was often Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse going head-to-head. One of front-of-the-net showdowns ended with the two men in a heap in front of the goal, looking more like football linemen than two of the team’s smoothest skaters.

“You had those two, and you had (Leon) Draisaitl and (Duncan) Keith going all the time. They’re the guys that are setting the tone for the drill for the day. That’s not something that I design,” Tippett said. “That’s something that they design. That’s the way they want it. To me, that’s good leadership.”

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“Those are your leaders. Those are your big dogs. That sets the tone,” said defenceman Tyson Barrie. “If Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse are battling and playing against each other hard, there’s zero excuse for anyone to take any sort of breaks. It’s good for our team.”

When the Oilers did do drills involving full lines, Brendan Perlini and Kailer Yamamoto were McDavid’s wingers. Perlini has scored in two straight games.

“My effort is always the same regardless,” said Perlini. “Obviously, the pucks have been going in, but I’m trying to play solid for the team. I’m trying to bring something different especially when I wasn’t playing too many minutes.”

“He gets opportunities. He doesn’t need a lot of opportunities to score,” said Tippett of Perlini. “We’re trying to find a mix of a line there. We’ve got a couple days of practice. We’ll have a couple days to look at it and see where it goes.”

Goaltender Stuart Skinner went into COVID protocol Monday morning. Mikko Koskinen and Ilya Konovalov were the goalies at practice.

The Oilers, who are 2-10-2 in their last 14 games, will host Florida on Thursday.