Oilers: Five On Five Success Is Critical Now More Than Ever

The Edmonton Oilers season is fastly approaching, and during some recent events, it was brought up again that the Oilers are not really catching breaks when it comes to calling penalties where it is warranted.

The Edmonton Oilers probably should draw more penalties than any other team in the league.

Connor McDavid is the best player in the NHL. There is no doubt that his speed and skill definitely leaves opponents in vulnerable positions from time to time every game. During those instances, a penalty probably should be drawn, but the thing is the officials have missed those calls in the past.

Last year during the playoffs McDavid did not draw a single penalty in the playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets. The year before that against the Chicago Blackhawks in the play-in, McDavid drew just one.

He is someone that draws a lot of penalties during the regular season but when it comes to the playoffs the games get tighter, and usually, the refs hold onto their whistle a lot tighter as well. Penalties are not something that comes often in the playoffs even though they definitely should be called a lot more.

I think it has a lot to do with keeping the games close and trying to go with the style of if they call something on team A then they should try and call something on team B to make up for it. It happened just this last year when Tim Peel was caught on a hot mic saying he wanted to call a penalty.

Tim Peel, the referee in the clip above, was later fired by the NHL for this instance in a move that the NHL was trying to take a stance that this doesn’t happen often. Well if that is the case then maybe it is time for them to start calling more penalties during the playoffs when it is warranted.

That is not something that the team can count on, but one thing they can count on is scoring more at five on five. If they are not going to get the calls they do deserve then the next move needs to be even more of a threat at five on five.

Winning the special teams battle is always critical. it helped the Oilers win a lot of games during the regular season. One thing I know I am going to be watching this year is how they do when they are not up a man on the ice. If Edmonton can win games without a power-play then maybe they can finally win a playoff game this year.