The Edmonton Oilers had a rough outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night after a brutal first period, essentially ruining their chances of winning. On Saturday, the boys were looking to wrap up their road trip on a high note with a rematch against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. And while the journey to the Oilers’ 4-3 win over the Blackhawks was anything but perfect, the important thing is that they found a way to get the job done despite some significant hurdles along the way.
THEY AREN’T ALWAYS PRETTY
As much as I’d prefer that the Oilers didn’t put themselves in two-goal holes to start the game, it sure is nice that they have the firepower to outscore those mistakes. After early goals from Teuvo Teravainen and Nick Foligno put the Oilers at risk of suffering the same result as they got in Pittsburgh, the boys responded by cranking up the urgency and looking more like what we’d expect from them. As annoying as it is that it took over a period for the Oilers to get their legs going, the Blackhawks struggled mightily when the switch finally flipped.
While I and everyone in the world who cheers for the Oilers wish for a time when they can consistently play a full 60 minutes for all 82 games, it will never happen. There are always going to be nights where the Oilers aren’t quite at their best, but even when that happens, they had better find a way to grind out some wins regardless. That’s what happened last night in Chicago. The Oilers didn’t have their best stuff for a good chunk of the game, but the fact that they could still collect two points shows a resiliency that should pay off down the line. Then again, maybe I’m wrong and just seeing the world through Oilers-coloured glasses again. Either way, two points is two points and it doesn’t always matter how we get there.
DEPTH SCORING SAVES THE DAY
There is no more beautiful sight to me than when the Oilers’ depth scorers come through with clutch goals at big moments, which happened last night in Chicago. The Oilers got four goals from players not named Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid, and that’s the exact recipe this team needs more often if they’re going to chase down the Pacific Division lead. We’ve said it around here for years, but the scoring can’t all come from our Dynamic Duo all the time, and that’s why I always love nights when the depth pieces come through with goals.
We all know the Oilers don’t get goals from the likes of Vasily Podkolzin, Adam Henrique, and Corey Perry, who are all in the same game very often, but you absolutely love the times when we do. This team is almost unstoppable when our high-end talent is getting help from our secondary squad, and we got that in a big way against Chicago. It was like a beautiful massage for our eyeballs. By the time Zach Hyman scored to give the Oilers their first lead of the night, the Blackhawks were on the ropes and on the verge of a second straight loss.
Not only did having four different goal scorers erase the early two-goal lead, but those goals ultimately powered the Oilers to an important comeback win. The stars can’t always score all of Edmonton’s goals, and it sure is nice to get the secondary scoring to execute Plan B and win the game anyway. Having players chip in from throughout the lineup eases the pressure on everybody, and I think that’s a big part of the story from last night’s victory.
ANOTHER SLOW START FOR EDMONTON
You can make it two games in a row where the Oilers have given up a goal within the opening moments of the game, spotting their opponent the lead off of puck management miscues in the defensive end. Those kinds of mistakes hadn’t been happening in a while — the boys had a run of eight games where they scored first — but then suddenly, here come the Oilers with an all-too-familiar dose of giving a goal up on one of the first few shots. Making matters worse, Edmonton could not respond to the Blackhawks’ opener and got tagged with the insurance marker shortly after.
Heading into the first intermission down by two goals was a shocking result for an Oilers team who vowed to have a better start than they offered against Pittsburgh. Instead of dictating the pace of play, Edmonton was handily outworked and bested by a last-place Blackhawks team who was playing on the second half of a back-to-back. That’s embarrassing. Instead of flexing like Cup contenders, the Oilers looked like they believed the Blackhawks owed them the win instead of going out and grabbing it themselves. It’s one thing to let that happen as a one-off situation, but it’s another thing when it happens twice in a row. We were fortunate to not get burned this time.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
1. I love me a Vasily Podkolzin goal, and I love them even more when they come on the back of a beautiful passing play with his linemates. In a matter of seconds, the puck moved from Leon Draisaitl to Viktor Arvidsson, who carried it around the net before finding Podzilla waiting in the slot with his stick on the ice. It was beautiful, friends. Beautiful.
2. Adam Henrique picked up a pair of goals against Boston earlier in the week, and I was hopefully finding the back of the net would help to spark his offence. Much to our collective delight, Henrique picked up his sixth goal of the season after getting his stick on Ty Emberson’s point shot, deflecting it perfectly through the goaltender.
3. Only 1:41 after Henrique narrowed the gap to a 3-2 game, Corey Perry tied the score on a snipe of a wrister from right in the slot after he found himself with all kinds of time and space to pick his spot.
4. The power play only got a single chance with the man advantage, and the Oilers wasted no time in making good on it with a goal from Hyman that he put home from the edge of the crease. The Oilers’ PP has been hot over the last month or so, and it ultimately came through with the game winner at a critical moment of the game.
5. Evan Bouchard may never score again. Dad is getting all kinds of chances over the last couple of games, but hasn’t been able to get anything to stick. A drought like this is abnormal for the d-man, but the good news is that it seems like only a matter of time before he gets back on the scoresheet if he keeps manufacturing chances like this.
6. Jeff Skinner was back in the doghouse, and got healthy scratched for the second time in under a month. Only days after putting himself on a three-game point streak, the veteran winger was back in the press box. The saga continues, my friends.
7. The NHL site had the Oilers’ giveaways listed at 13 against Chicago, but that number seems pretty generous to me. They were giving up the puck by my eye way more often than that.
8. If you’re letting your Sunday be determined by how the Oilers did in the faceoff circle, then you’ll be displeased to know that the won only 43.8% of the draws.
