Jordan Eberle believes there is a direct correlation between the recent success of the Edmonton Oilers power play and the spike in his offensive game.

Whether the power play has been effective because Eberle is scoring, or whether he is scoring because the Oilers have been good with the man advantage, is open for debate.

There is no denying, however, Eberle has taken his game to a new level in the second half of the season.

“A lot of that can be contributed to our power play, it’s been lights out,” Eberle said following a 5-4 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. “I think anytime you get touches and you get chances on the power play and they go in, you get confidence in your five-on-five game. There is still a lot of hockey left to be played, so hopefully, I can still keep creating offence from now until the end of the season.”

Eberle had two goals and four assists on the Oilers recent five-game road trip. He currently leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and 52 points in 68 games this season.

Eberle scored the Oilers first goal in Columbus on Friday, lifting a shot over the shoulder of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was the first of three power play goals the Oilers would score in the contest.

“I think he was cheating a bit over and I kind of faked like I was going to pass it over,” Eberle said. “I’ve scored on him there before and in that situation, you just try to react as quick as you can.”

The Oilers return from the road trip winless in five games, with just two shootout loss points to show for their efforts.

While the club was disappointed in the end results, there were some encouraging signs to build on for next season, most notably, the play of the top line, which featured Benoit Pouliot in place of the injured Taylor Hall.

“Pouliot is a guy that gets to the front of the net, he’s easy to play with, he forechecks so well and he makes the other team turn the puck over,” Eberle said. “Me and Nuge (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) have the puck on our stick a lot. With Taylor, he’s one of the best players in the league and he wants the puck too and therefore sometimes you’re not going to get the puck as much.

“With me and Ryan, I think Pouliot creates chemistry where we touch it a lot more and we get a little more confidence that way.”

The line combined for 13 points on the road trip, with Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins each collecting six.

An illness to Pouliot early into the trip limited his effectiveness, but Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins were both excellent, going up against some league’s elite in the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Eberle went into the trip on a 14 game goal-scoring drought, which he snapped in a 7-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

“I’ve always wanted to be a double threat, when guys give me the puck, I want to put it in too,” Eberle said. “You just go out there and when you have a chance to score, you score and when you have a chance to make a play, you make a play.”

Eberle made a great play on the Oilers fourth goal Friday, setting up Nail Yakupov with a between-the-legs pass early in the third period on a two-man advantage.

At the time, the goal gave the Oilers a 4-3 lead, which they were unable to maintain.

“They did a good job setting it up because they tried a couple of low plays,” said Oilers interim head coach Todd Nelson. “The pass that went to Ebs before he passed to Yak,​ he said he got too excited and was shocked that he had the puck on his tape. But he made a nice play to Yak, he really drew the goalie over and Yak had the open net.”

Despite not being able to earn a victory on the road trip, the Oilers believe there were many positives to build on heading into their encounter against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in the first of a six-game home stand.

“The trip was up and down, I thought (Friday’s) game, we played a pretty solid game, we made a few mental errors,” Nelson said. “Before (Friday) we had spurts in games where we played well and in other times we didn’t. It was an up and down road trip and it would have been nice to get a win.”

derek.vandiest@sunmedia.ca

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