Finally the leaders of the team step up

Over a month ago before this skid turned into a train wreck, I had hoped the Oilers leadership group would hold a team meeting and work this out on their own. It was needed, and today, that meeting happened before practice. 

Entire practice after a few warmup drills have been battle drills. 1on1 2on1 2v2 - over and over. Pretty intense battles happening, Nurse setting a physical tone.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

The Oilers spent today going over battle drills. 2 on 1, 2 on 2 and 1 on 1. They made a conscious effort to really battle hard. At one point Koekkoek got a hard shoulder in on Sceviour and tempers boiled over. Sceviour smashed his stick over the boards in frustration. Which is good. This is exactly what the team needs today to move forward out of this slump. 

Oilers with some classic one on ones today. Nurse and McDavid had a great battle in one of the first run throughs. Both ended up on the ice after a good physical battle.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

Coach Tippett had this to say, "That's not something that I design, that's something that they design and that's the way they want it. To me, that's good leadership."

McDavid and Nurse battled hard against each other, then Draisaitl and Keith matched the intensity. It paved the way for the rest of the players and set the tone. 

Despite all the rage for firing coaches and trading for goalies, this is a very, very good sign for fans of the Oilers. All I can say, it’s about damn time! 

Koekkoek dropped a hard shoulder into Sceviour. Went over to apologize. Sceviour frustrated. Lots of battles and collisions so far today. pic.twitter.com/keF1dNX4We

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 17, 2022

***This is a must listen from Perlini. 

"Any team I've been on, when we've gone through streaks like this, usually the way out of it is practices like that & competing hard."

Perlini speaks following today's #Oilers skate. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/DM69gKps4U

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 17, 2022