Connor McDavid is bringing a 20-game point streak into Toronto, and the Oilers are arriving with a 14-3-3 record that says plenty about how quickly the Mike Babcock era has settled in.
Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena has the kind of built-in charge that doesn’t need much dressing up: McDavid back in a building that still means a lot to him, and Babcock back in Toronto for the first time since his controversial hiring in Edmonton. That alone gives the game a spotlight feel.
“It doesn’t matter how many times I come here, it’s always a special building to me,” said the Oilers captain, who also said, “I was a Leafs fan growing up as a kind. This building obviously means a lot to me. It means more, of course.”
McDavid also made clear the Oilers know exactly what kind of night this can be for the group. “It’s an important game, we have a lot of Toronto guys,” he said. “This is a hometown game for a lot of guys and we want to make sure it’s a good one”
What stands out about Edmonton’s start is how much it looks like the version of the team they wanted to become after two long playoff runs and short summers. The group has had time to recover, and that freshness is showing. But there’s more to it than rest.
“The coaching staff brings a lot of juice and it rubs off on the players,” said McDavid. “Even at practice like today you could feel the energy out there on the ice. I feel that at times we were missing that last year.”
The Oilers have already proven they can win in different ways. They went to two Stanley Cup Finals, so the idea that they can’t handle a tight, low-scoring game has never really fit.
Still, this season has felt different. There’s more pride in the details, and the results have made the buy-in easier.
The goaltending has been part of that, too. So far, the Oilers are getting some of the best in the league.
For Zach Hyman, the return of Babcock has added another layer. Hyman is in his second run with the coach after five seasons in Toronto, and he said the relationship has picked up right where it left off.
“Our record speaks for itself in the hockey department, but on the personal department he’s been phenomenal,” said Oilers winger Zach Hyman. “Guys have really enjoyed being around him. He’s brought new life into the locker room.”
Hyman also pointed to the way Babcock backed him early in his career. “You always have to have somebody who believes in you, especially early on in your career when you’re trying to make a name for yourself,” said Hyman.
“He was somebody who believed in me right from the start. There were a lot of doubters in Toronto early on in my career … but he was somebody who always had the confidence to put me on the ice and trust my game.
“It’s really fun having a second stint with him being older now. I was 24 when we started and now I’m 34. Everybody knows how highly I think of him and it’s been a great start here in Edmonton.”
Babcock, for his part, didn’t spend much time looking backward. Toronto media hoping for a reflective tour through the past didn’t get much of that. He stayed focused on the present and on the people around him.
“I’m very thankful for those guys coming to see me,” he said of the leadership group. “I didn’t know I was going to have this much fun doing it. It’s been great.”
The timing of the trip only sharpens the edge. Toronto is on a five-game losing streak, and every one of those losses has come at home. The Oilers are walking into a building where the mood is sour, and they already know what the Leafs did to them last month, a 7-2 loss that still hangs over this matchup.
Edmonton has a chance to answer that one now, and the setting is tailor-made for it.
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