Spoiler Alert: Sorry to break it to you kids, but you were going to find out eventually — Santa Claus isn’t real.
On the bright side, the Edmonton Oilers are.
A slow start and leaks in almost every aspect of their game had a lot of people wondering if the Oilers could recapture last season’s form and establish themselves as Stanley Cup contenders again.
Well, nothing says a team is for real more than choking out two of the top teams in the NHL while improving to 11-3-1 in the past 14 games.
Yup, here come the Oilers.
“Any time you’re playing the best, you want to elevate your game,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose club looked awfully complete in holding the Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild to one goal each in a pair of measuring stick victories this week.
“It’s a good test to see where you stack up.”
They are stacking up very well at the moment — having outscored their opponents 19-7 on their current four-game win streak.
The road ahead only gets harder — they host Vegas and Florida next — but there’s no question that the Oilers at least are closing in on the stuff that made them such a powerhouse last year.
DRAISAITL FOR MVP
It’s a luxury most other teams can only dream of, having a player who can overshadow Connor McDavid from time to time, but Edmonton’s embarrassment of riches continues.
There is only one McDavid, but the guy who put up a goal and three assists in the first 40 minutes against Minnesota on Thursday is making it perfectly clear that there is only one Leon Draisaitl.
When he’s on his game, as he has been all season, he’s a nightmare for opposing players.
In Edmonton’s current four-game winning streak, he had two goals against Columbus, two assists against St. Louis, a goal and an assist in the 2-1 win over Tampa and a four-point night against Minnesota.
He leads the NHL in goals with 21, putting him on pace for 60. He sits sixth in the NHL in plus-minus at plus 17. He’s fourth in the NHL in face-off percentage among centres who’ve taken 500 or more draws. And he’s eighth in the league in even-strength ice time per game among forwards.
“He’s been unbelievable at both ends of the ice,” Zach Hyman said. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for what he’s doing on the (defensive) end. He’s obviously scoring lots of goals and making plays, but defensively he’s been unbelievable.”
He does it all and he’s doing it exceptionally well while centering Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen.
“Leon was really good,” Knoblauch said after the Minnesota win. “Of all the players, everyone was really good, but Leon was really at another level.”
BACKUP PLAN
The confidence Knoblauch and the coaching staff have in backup goalie Calvin Pickard is something to see. They are not the least bit afraid to put important games in his hands.
In a tough and important stretch of the season, they’ve given him the nod in two of the past four starts and three of the past seven.
That’s pretty impressive given how well Stuart Skinner is playing right now (seven goals against in his past five starts).
But why not? Pickard is 7-2 in his past nine and on a three-game win streak of his own.
It’s easy to lose sight of the goaltending when a team wins 7-1, but he made some outstanding stops against Minnesota and has been everything the Oilers need him to be for a long time.
“Just solid,” Hyman said. “Key saves at key moments. He made all the saves you want him to make and then some. He gave us a chance to win.”
NICE NIGHT AND A FIGHT
Nice little evening for defenceman Ty Emberson, who is starting to find his footing after coming to the Oilers from San Jose in the off-season.
He was two-thirds of the way to a Gordie Howe hat-trick, picking up a first-period fight and a second-period assist against the Wild on Thursday. The goal didn’t come, but it was a strong night and a great scrap with Jakub Lauko.
“It was just a face off and he asked if I wanted to go and I said ‘sure,’ there wasn’t a whole lot behind it,” grinned the 24-year-old.
Emberson still only has 57 career NHL games under his belt and he’s trying to fit in on his second team, so it’s understandable if the process takes some time. But there is something there.
“I think it’s in a good spot right now,” he said of his game.
“As the season has gone on I’ve built some confidence up in finding ways to contribute, whether it’s on the PK or just playing hard five-on-five. I’m trying to keep building on that.”
Thursday was also good timing for a kid who grew up in the Minnesota area.
“This is a rink I grew up coming to when I was a little kid. It was fun to play a game in it and have my family and friends in the stands.”