On the heels of a 7-1 rout of Minnesota, which came on the heels of a clinical 2-1 win over Tampa Bay, the Oilers one-upped themselves Saturday by putting the boots to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Murderers’ Row? The Oilers are now 3-0 through the first three games of their midseason measuring stick, having beaten the Lightning, Wild and Knights by a combined score of 15-5.
“It’s a good time for us to play these good teams because we’re playing so well,” said Oilers forward Connor Brown, who contributed a goal and an assist to Saturday’s 6-3 win. “This is a divisional opponent that we’re going to see a lot. It was nice to come out and play our game.”
The Oilers are once again the team to beat in the NHL. Their fifth win in a row makes them the hottest team in the league right now.
“We just made the most of our opportunities, it’s just having confidence to make plays,” said Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who turned in his second two-assist game in a row.
“In the second half of the second period, they did have a push and we probably gave up more than we would have liked, but in the third period there was a lot to like about our team.”
In a wild and occasionally feisty show of strength, the Oilers had everything go their way in the first 35 minutes. They stormed out to a 5-0 lead and caught a few breaks when the Golden Knights hit three goal posts and fanned on some point-blank chances.
At this point you half expected Rogers Place to play La Bamba and be done with it.
That Vegas scored three quick ones to make it 5-3 with 19 minutes to play is something the Oilers be addressing in their video sessions, but in the end they made their point.
They are as good as anyone in the NHL right now.
“Do I think we played prefect tonight, no, but against this team we know each other so well that you just have to get the win,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “We got up to 5-0 and took the foot off the gas, which we can’t do, This team is way too dangerous. But we got a big goal on the power play to settle things down.”
It was another in a growing list of statement wins. Earlier in the season Edmonton struggled in head-to-head games with the stronger teams in the league, but they’re the bullies now.
“They are a good team, a division rival, so it’s fun beating them, of course,” said Leon Draisaitl who had a goal and two assists to give him 13 points in the last five games. “They’d say the same on the other side. We wanted to have a good showing tonight and continue what we’ve been building.
“I like our game right now. I think we’re playing well and starting to find our roles a little bit and our rhythm a little bit better. Obviously we have some really good teams coming up here so we are just looking to continue that.”
The offence that the Oilers couldn’t find earlier in the season is flowing like wine. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, who were stuck in a black hole when the Oilers were having their October struggles are now seeing the light. Hyman’s goal gives him five in the last five games after three in the first 20. And the Nugent-Hopkins power play marker gives him five goals in the last 11 games after one in the first 19.
Brown, Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner, who scored the 6-3 goal to quell the Vegas uprising, contributed the secondary scoring.
“Overall, I’m not sure we’ve been doing anything differently,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “There has been a little more emphasis on forwards getting to the net, the D shooting with more purpose. But I think it’s a lot of puck luck, things going our way right now.”
And, like Calvin Pickard in Edmonton’s 7-1 win over Minnesota, the Oilers’ sneaky-good goaltending slipped under the radar. But in improving to 5-1 in his last six, with the only loss being 1-0 to Vegas, Stuart Skinner kept this game from ever getting close.
He served up a ghastly giveaway to make it 5-3, but that’s the last time they got to him in a 38-save performance.
“Stu was our best player tonight,” said Knoblauch. “I thought he played extremely well. He made one mistake tonight, but this was maybe our worst game of defending. The amount of chances that we gave up tonight … and he made save after save.
“You need your goalie to make those saves and I think our goaltenders have been really good the last few weeks and are winning us games. We need goaltending like that if we’re going to have success long term and this is the goaltending that I saw pretty much all of last year.”
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