If They Start Playing Like They Did Earlier...

We'd be in pretty much the same situation.

Despite the pleas from fans to revert back to the scoring at will team from before, I just don't think it's going to happen. Early on, this team wasn't generating scoring chances, but they were scoring goals.

This team never really was playing good, they were just getting a lot of bounces for them. I don't just mean bounces where it goes off a body and in, but even a bounce where a good defenceman misplays a puck and you get a good scoring chance out of it or a breakdown happens and the puck goes to an open guy.

Those situations benefitted the Oilers greatly in the first 10 games of the season, and some have mistaken that for playing well. They really weren't, but wins and goals change the perception for a lot of people. They were playing more physical, but that really hasn't translated at all into their time of possession or ability to generate shots or scoring chances.

The most worrisome part is that this team hasn't shown it can get any better in this regard as players return. They've been just as bad with Souray in the lineup as they were without him. They are just as bad with their injured regulars returning as they were with them all out.

They have yet to throw more than 1 line together that can consistantly out chance their opposition (whatever line Penner is on seems to do the trick), and the coaching staff refuses to hard match that one line.

So sure, they can start playing like they did earlier, but I'd argue they have been!