Edmonton Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock recently remarked that a tough stretch of the schedule will give an accurate reading of the state of the team.There are still some bumps in the road Adidas Adam Cracknell Jersey , but there were some lessons learned, too.Looking to extend a winning streak at Rogers Place, the Oilers square off against the sputtering Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.Article continues below ...Last Saturday, Hitchcock said the “next three games are going to tell us a lot of the things that we’re good at and the things we need to work on.”Hours later, Edmonton defeated the Calgary Flames, 1-0, in the Battle of Alberta. Two days later, the Oilers traveled to the Denver and topped the high-powered Colorado Avalanche, 6-4. On Thursday, Hitchcock’s club erased a two-goal deficit in the second period but fell to the Winnipeg Jets, 5-4 in overtime.“We have not, as a group Adidas Josh Jooris Jersey , have not been even close to being involved in stuff like this and these are great lessons for us moving forward as long as we take them,” Hitchcock said.Since Hitchcock took over on Nov. 20, Edmonton (17-12-3) has won all five games at Rogers Place by a combined score of 14-5. In the first nine home games this season under Todd McLellan, the Oilers went 4-4-1 with a 29-28 scoring advantage.Hitchcock is 8-2-2 with Edmonton, which is five points behind Pacific Division-leading Calgary.“We need the points (but) I look at the way we’re playing,” Hitchcock said.The Oilers were swept in the season series in 2017-18 and have dropped three of the last four matchups with Philadelphia. Edmonton has surrendered one power-play goal in each of the last four meetings with the Flyers.But the Oilers will face a team unable to keep the puck out of the net recently.After giving up seven goals in a loss to the Jets on Sunday, the Flyers surrendered two goals in the final 1:08 of regulation and the game-winner 35 seconds into overtime of a 6-5 defeat to Calgary.“We’ve got to find a way to reset,” winger Dale Weise told NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It’s embarrassing.”While Philadelphia (12-13-4) made a change off-ice by firing general manager Ron Hextall on Nov. 26, the team is still struggling. The Flyers have gone 2-2-2 since Hextall’s ouster and sit in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the New Jersey Devils.The team has yielded at least four goals four times since Chuck Fletcher took over in the front office. One of his first chores should be an upgrade in goal.With Brian Elliott injured and Michal Neuvirth away from the team as his wife prepares to give birth, Philadelphia is going with the tandem of Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon, who was recalled Thursday. The pair have combined for a total of 26 games Adidas Timothy Liljegren Jersey , including 17 starts.Stolarz allowed 10 goals in his last two appearances and has an .889 save percentage through seven games, but coach Dave Hakstol seems willing to let him learn by doing.“He’s a young guy in terms of games in the NHL,” Hakstol told Philly.com. “And there’s a lot of things that he continues to work at. We don’t want to put too much on his plate that way. Just go out and continue to build his game.”Mikko Koskinen is expected to start in the second of back-to-back games and looks to continue his stellar play on home ice for Edmonton. In seven games (six starts), Koskinen has surrendered just six goals while recording three shutouts. When the Washington Capitals faced the New York Islanders in the playoffs five years in a row in the 1980s, players knew everything.They knew where Mike Bossy loved to shoot from, that Bob Nystrom was going to run them over and that they’d better watch out for Denis Potvin in the neutral zone.”We became so used to one another we were expected to play the Islanders in the playoffs,” former Capitals winger Craig Laughlin said. ”At some point, we always knew we were going to play them.”It’s starting to feel that way now for the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who are meeting in the second round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Two teams playing each other over and over again in the postseason is a common theme in NHL history, especially when 16 of the 21 teams faced off in a divisional format similar to what has been in place since 2014 and is responsible for Capitals-Penguins III.The Capitals faced the New York Rangers from 2011-13 and the Chicago Blackhawks played the Vancouver Canucks from 2009-11. Hockey has changed plenty since the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens played series seven years in a row from 1984-90, but all that familiarity still breeds a whole lot of contempt.”For the players, it’s more difficult Adidas Tyler Ennis Jersey ,” said former Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe, whose Oilers faced Winnipeg three playoffs in a row from 1983-85. ”The body checks are heavier, the cross-checks are harder, the slashes behind the play are harder.”Lowe doesn’t think there are any advantages to players seeing the same opponent over and over again in the playoffs. Even on a Stanley Cup-champion team in Edmonton, there was always pressure to beat the Jets because they had done it in previous years.Seeing the Penguins beat the Capitals on the way to the Cup the past two years, Lowe believes the stronger motivation belongs to Washington.”They’ve made their life miserable, so that amps them up more,” Lowe said. ”There’s no real advantage to the team that’s winning those years because you know every year’s different and you thought, `Oh, we can beat these guys because we beat them before.’ It’s a new set of circumstances every time you play.”Former Philadelphia defenseman Brad Marsh recalled similar circumstances when the Flyers faced the Rangers in the playoffs in the ’80s. New York was often dozens of points back in the standings and yet won their series sometimes.Players also changed teams less frequently back then, so the series felt like the continuation of a never-ending rivalry that began each fall in the preseason and was renewed in the playoffs.”You certainly develop a hate for the team a little quicker because you’ve played them so many times in the regular season leading into the playoffs, and if you play them year after year Adidas Antoine Roussel Jersey , it certainly does give you extra motivation not to lose to them again,” Marsh said. ”You did know how each player played or what their strengths or weaknesses were.”By now, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said he and his teammates know ”pretty much everything” about the Penguins, just like they did about the Rangers a few years ago. Coach Barry Trotz joked there was ”less scouting, shorter days” before acknowledging, ”We’ll be looking for those little edges you can get when you start playing teams multiple times.”Even back in Laughlin’s day, the scouting reports – printed out on paper – were extensive. When Marsh faced the Rangers, he knew how to defend certain players in front of the net and what to expect from an opponent’s stars.Sometimes that’s a no brainer. The Capitals have to watch out for Sidney Crosby, the Penguins for Ovechkin and the 1980s Jets for Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.Rick Tocchet, who played with Marsh on the Flyers in the ’80s and was an assistant coach with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, thinks repeatedly facing the same team brings out different aspects in players.”If you were a skill guy, you’d probably go out of your way to hit a guy Adidas Tim Schaller Jersey ,” Tocchet said. ”If you really were an aggressive-type player, you’d try to make sure you’d continue to be aggressive and be willing to hit their best players. When you play a team so many times you’re willing to go out of your comfort zone to win those games.”Having an elite team like the Islanders and Oilers dynasties of the ’80s carried with it some pressure, but beating the same opponent repeatedly in the playoffs had one benefit.”Knowing that there would be an element of doubt in there,” Lowe said. ”If you get them down in a series and things are looking bleak where that element of doubt might creep in quicker for the team that hasn’t won. It takes a while before you can actually get an opponent to that position.”The mental battle starts well before Game 1. Speaking from experience, Laughlin thought he and the Capitals could always go toe-to-toe with the Islanders. He figures that’s the only way to approach this kind of situation.”You need that feeling that this is a new year, it’s a new season, it’s a new series and why can’t we win?” Laughlin said. ”It is belief that you have a better team and a belief that you are playing better than them at the moment. I think that’s the only thing you can sort of feed off of is you have more belief in your game the way you’re playing now.”—