The Edmonton Oilers never in a million years thought that they would need an upset victory over the Anaheim Ducks in late November to get their wildcard chase underway.
They never imagined that they would still be five points behind the immobile Ducks five games into the season, especially with Anaheim visiting town following a five-game losing run.
However, since they dug this hole for themselves, their only remaining course of action is to try to survive and begin to crawl out.
They started working on it Sunday night at Rogers Place, advancing slightly further north and handily defeating the Ducks 8-2 to leave them covered in gunshots. Edmonton’s record now stands at 7-12-1 after the victory, which also moved them three points clear of the Ducks in 13th place in the Western Conference, past Minnesota.
After the Oilers defeated Washington 5-0, they made it 13 goals in their previous two games, indicating that their offense, which had been uncharacteristically mediocre during the first quarter of the season, is starting to come alive.
“It’s obviously nice to be able to break through and get our offence going a little bit,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “Early in the season the puck wasn’t going in. We were trying hard and trying to get around it, but I think it does help the confidence when they start going in.”
By using their forecheck and offensive prowess to overcome a sluggish start and take the lead halfway through the game, the Oilers took the game to where they are most at ease.
With a goal and four assists for nine points in the previous two games, Connor McDavid broke out once more. A few weeks ago, he was tied in a 26-point tie for 113th place in the league scoring. With 25 points, 12 of which have come in the last four games, he is currently in 13th place. Not many guys rise 100 spots in a week, but then, not many players are as good as McDavid.
“He’s been playing his butt off and doing everything he can since the start of the season,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse. “The points are starting to come the last few games but, that being said, he’s been working at that same clip since before camp. He’s just being rewarded for it now.”
Beyond McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins finished plus-4, Zach Hyman scored two goals and added an assist, Nurse recorded three assists, Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, and Vincent Desharnais each had two points.
“I think our whole team is playing better and I think that’s why you are starting to see guys have success,” said McDavid. “It’s not just a light switch that one or two guys can just turn on, it takes a whole group and I thought our group has been playing better of late and you’re starting to see guys have a little bit of success. And a little bit too is it just going in. Guys are making plays and it is just going in.”
The Oilers were not the superior team to begin this game in any way, shape, or form. They fell behind 2-1 in the opening six minutes, losing every battle and being outshot 7-2. Once again, the chips were down after Stuart Skinner gave up a bad goal and Leon Draisaitl took a bad penalty.
They persisted though. In the first 12:37, they only mustered four shots on goal, but amazingly, three of them found the back of the net: a wrist shot from McDavid, a two-on-one from Kane, and a breakaway from Nugent-Hopkins that was made possible by a brilliant stretch pass from Nurse. Including Hyman’s one-timer from the back, the score at the first intermission was 4-2 in favor of Edmonton.
“They came out and had a really good push and we were down 2-1, but we weren’t deterred by it and just stuck to our game and were able to capitalize on the chances,” said Nurse. “That’s what’s special about this group, we’re resilient. We have to continue to play to the standard we know we can play to and it has to be every night.”
After two periods, it was over with one more from Hyman for a team-leading 12 on the season and James Hamblin’s second of the year.
In the third period, Draisaitl and Mattias Ekholm added more.
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After 14 games, Connor Brown finally scored his first point as an Oiler, dishing out a first-period assist. Lukas Dostal, the goalie for Anaheim, had a difficult night. He entered the game with a.893 save percentage but was benched after giving up six goals on 17 shots. Although he wasn’t great, the Oilers had plenty of excellent opportunities.