from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

In the regular season, that 1-1 game can often be won with offence. The Maple Leafs, the Oilers, they’ll turn that into a 5-4 game and look great doing it. But in the playoffs, that game is won with goaltending and defensive play.

That’s why Toronto and Edmonton haven’t succeeded. Because the road to the ‘W’ in May and June isn’t the same road they took from October through April.

The Oilers, they know this to be true. And they’ve been working their tails off, trying to become that team that can defend well enough and long enough come playoff time, that their superior offence can win the day.

“You have the best defending teams that make the playoffs usually, right?” Reasons 50-100 man Leon Draisaitl. “We want to be one of those teams, and I think the last little stretch here — other than maybe one exception or one game — we’ve done a really good job of that. We’ve been really solid defensively. And for us, obviously, there’s never a problem to score goals.”

Personally, we’d love to see an NHL where creative teams and players get rewarded come playoff time. With more 6-5 hockey come springtime.

But we all know that creativity and goal scoring is a reward bestowed only on teams that grind, defend, and survive in the hard hockey that results from all 18 skaters treating every shift as if it is their last.

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