Fans of the fast-fading Edmonton Oilers were hoping for something a little more convincing Thursday than a life-and-death struggle with the 11th-place club in the Eastern Conference, but when your team is bleeding out you don’t complain about the look of the stitches.
In their last game before Friday’s NHL trade deadline, and their first since a 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the Oilers survived 64 minutes and 53 harrowing seconds before silencing the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in overtime.
Evan Bouchard scored the winner and goaltender Stuart Skinner saved the night, rebounding strongly after a few shaky starts.
There were still some glitches: like right after the Oilers failed to click on a 43-second two-man advantage, Montreal tied it 1-1 when Cole Caufield got in behind the defence for a breakaway and scored on his own rebound.
And they left Montreal’s Joel Armia WIDE open in the slot for a one-timer that tied it 2-2 in the second period.
But overall it was a step in the right direction after a miserable run of 3-7-1, the worst 11-game stretch in the NHL.
The Oilers were without defencemen Mattias Ekholm, who’ll be out a game or two while he recovers from the illness that’s been plaguing him for weeks, as well as John Klingberg, who has a minor injury. So the Oilers called up Cam Dineen on emergency recall for his first NHL action since 2021-22.
AGELESS WONDER
Corey Perry, two months shy of his 40th birthday, scored his 14th of the season, which ranks fifth on the Oilers. He has one more goal this season than both of Edmonton’s second line wingers Thursday, Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson, have combined (13).
TRADE CRAFT
The Oilers are trading for San Jose defenceman Jake Walman, a 29-year-old left shot defenceman who has six goals and 26 assists this season. The six-foot-one, 218-pounder leads all Sharks players in time on ice per game (23:11). It’s a little odd since left defenceman is the one area on the team where the Oilers are set, with Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak. Maybe there will be more shoes to drop on Friday or maybe GM Stan Bowman is finding that he can’t meet the market price for the second-pairing, right-shot defenceman Edmonton needs.
Edmonton is reportedly sending a first-round pick in 2026 as part of the package going the other way.
PASSING MESSIER
Leon Draisaitl’s power-play goal in the second period gives him 46 on the season and moves him past Mark Messier for sole possession of fourth on the Oilers all-time goal scoring list with 393 goals. Wayne Gretzky (583), Jari Kurri (474) and Glenn Anderson (417) occupy the top three spots.
GLAD MAX
Max Jones played his first game as an Oiler since coming over in the Trent Frederic trade from Boston, picking up a first-period assist in his debut. His game is to be a hard-hitting winger who brings some much-needed heft to Edmonton’s team, a role he’s happy to embrace.
“The physicality part, the work-hard part, that’s something I can control,” he said. “It’s pretty easy just to do that, finishing hits, going through bodies. Structurally, it’s pretty similar to what we were doing (in Boston and AHL Providence). From there it’s just going out and playing hockey.”
If he brings the energy every night, Kris Knoblauch says Jones will find himself a nice role in Edmonton.
“Jones is a player who gives us something we don’t have, a little more speed, a little more physicality,” said the coach. “A guy who gets in on the forecheck and makes it uncomfortable for the opposition defencemen.”
SKINNER ON THE OUTS
Bringing in two more left wingers makes Jeff Skinner’s chances of cracking the lineup a lot tougher. He was a healthy scratch again Thursday for the third time in five games.
“It’s a difficult for any player or coach dealing with this,” admitted Knoblauch. “He’s a player who had an outstanding career coming in here, feeling like he was going to be a big part of it and have a significant role and it hasn’t fit for him or the team right now.
“There are some things we would like him to work on and get better at to be able to find that fit.”
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