Normally, the Edmonton Oilers wouldn’t bat an eye at beating a struggling Carolina Hurricanes team that lost six of its last eight games.
But there has been nothing normal about the Oilers, so far, here in the final third of the regular season.
They went from being tied for first place in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off a month ago to sliding down the standings after going 2-7. And both of those wins came in overtime.
And considering the Oilers were on a season-high five-game losing skid when they got to Lenovo Center, they gladly took two points off an equally struggling Hurricanes squad.
“I think that game will be very important for us to build some confidence,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who saw the end to the Oilers’ longest losing streak under his watch. “That would have been a long flight back if we would have lost that.”
Although they weren’t getting the results they wanted, the Oilers were making clear progression over their five-game road trip through the Eastern Conference, which began with back to back 6-3 and 7-3 losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, followed by a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But the switch was flipped when they pushed the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in a 4-3 loss before finally turning their fortunes around Saturday thanks to a 35-save performance from backup Calvin Pickard.
“I think the last two games we did a much better job of digging in and competing a lot harder,” Knoblauch said. “The battles that we won were a lot better than the previous three games. We were able to keep the puck out of the net with ‘Picks’ making some big saves.
“Especially in the third period, where you’ve got a fragile team and you have a lead late in the game, and when you haven’t won for a while, you tend to shrink. You don’t want to make a mistake and, ultimately, you just end up defending all the time and it just allows the other team to get more chances.”
Now they will look to pick up where they left off as they return home for three games this week before heading back on the road for four more.
“I think a lot of guys, they should feel good about themselves because they worked hard,” Knoblauch said. “Obviously, the road trip isn’t to our standards, how we want them, obviously with the wins and losses. But it was nice to get this one.”
Even with the two points, the Oilers are still closer to a race against the Los Angeles Kings for second place right now than they are with Vegas for first.
But the big picture hasn’t been the focus lately, not with the losses piling up and the tunnel vision narrowing on just coming up with a win. Some way. Somehow.
“It’s a big one for us. Obviously, we’ve been struggling a little bit and couldn’t find our game for a while there,” said league-leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl, who saw a streak of his own come to an end Saturday after having strung together seven games with at least a goal.
“The last two nights I thought were better. You could see it trending in the right direction in Florida and I thought (Saturday) was a really good effort by us.
“Some things to clean up always, but a good effort by us.”
Brett Kulak was all over the defensive zone to fill the void left behind by Darnell Nurse, who missed his second game with an upper-body injury from the Tampa stop, while Pickard came up with save after save.
None was bigger than stoning Sebastian Aho on a shorthanded breakaway in the final minute to maintain a 2-1 lead before Evan Bouchard scored his first power-play goal of the season into an empty net at the other end of the ice with one second remaining.
“He was great. He gives us a chance to win every night,” Draisaitl said. “I think everybody in our room loves him. He’s just a great teammate to have, and we love playing for him.
“So, he was great. Especially, obviously, on that breakaway late.”
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