Ken Hitchcock calls out the haters after a big win for the Oilers.

Hitchcock calls out his haters.

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Published 5 years ago
Ken Hitchcock calls out the haters after a big win for the Oilers.

There's a distinctly different tone in the world of the Edmonton Oilers today and it may once again prove that the old anecdote "winning cures every ailment" continues to be true. 

The Edmonton Oilers have had by all accounts an abysmal season thus far. In fact things have been so bad that the man who started behind the bench, former Edmonton Oilers head coach Todd McLellan, and the man who started in the general manager's chair, former Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, are both no longer with the team and the Oilers once again sit outside of the current playoff picture looking in with very limited time remaining to make up ground. That being said though there may be a little faint glimmer of hope yet left alive in the Oilers. 

The Oilers have now rattled off back to back wins and although they still remain a long way out of the playoff race they do find themselves within striking distance of the Minnesota Wild for that final Wild Card slot. It would take a collapse from the Wild and a huge run of form from the Oilers to make it at this point and the smart money would be to bet against the boys from Alberta, Canada but there definitely seemed to be a bit of a swagger around the Oilers today. 

Current Edmonton Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock appeared to be feeling some of that himself today when he made some rather fiery comments about his team to the media. Keep in mind that these are the words of a head coach who has been rather negative about the performance about his players at times, so much so that rumors suggest he was admonished about it behind the senes. 

"People bitch and complain about what we don't have. What we do have is a team," said Hitchcock after his team's dominant 4 - 0 beat down of John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This may be pure coincidence but it does appear as though the 2 game suspension that was handed down to the Edmonton Oilers, and more specifically to Oilers superstar forward and captain Connor McDavid, has really lit a fire under the entire organization. If that is indeed the case you have to wonder how far the Oilers can take this, although to make the postseason they will need to leap frog the Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, and the aforementioned Wild.

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