VANCOUVER — What the heck was that? “It’s a big gut punch,” defenceman Brett Kulak said. “You don’t rely on one guy to carry you all the time, but it’ll be nice to have him back.” Sans Ekholm, the Oilers seemed lost and lethargic. “You’re still ironing out kinks, but I think we’re all smart enough in this room to …
EDMONTON — An injury to blueliner Markus Niemelainen put a wrinkle in the Edmonton Oilers’ plans to set their season-opening roster. “We’re trying to field the best team that we can.” Much to Holland’s relief, Lavoie cleared waivers Monday along with defenceman Ben Gleason and centre Lane Pederson. “If you look at all these guys,” Holland said, mentioning Evan Bouchard, …
Hockey coaches are partial to feeding mantras to both players and the public alike, and sometimes, often even, they feel like empty calories. The system in brief After the season opener, Matthews said of the Canadiens: “They work hard, they play fast, they don’t give you much space.” That stands as a pretty good mission statement. So if you start …
