EDMONTON — There is some irony that an Edmonton Oilers team that started the season so slowly it got its coach fired, is at the same time the best first period team in the National Hockey League with 31 goals. The fastest starters, this bunch of tardy gentlemen.
But there were the Edmonton Oilers on a Sunday night against Anaheim, down 1-0 early, then 2-1, against one of a group of teams they’ll have to work their way past in the Western Conference standings if the season is going to extend past mid-April.
For the past month, an early 2-1 deficit most often continued south, getting uglier and uglier as the night wore on. But two nights after the Oilers had pounded the Washington Capitals 5-0 down in D.C., Edmonton grabbed hold the game and won it in a romp, dusting the Ducks 8-2.
“The first 10 or 15 minutes for sure, was a little sloppy. (But) I thought they did a heck of a job in the last 50 minutes,” observed head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We gave up 11 shots in the last 50 minutes of hockey, so I think they were playing pretty responsible from then on.”
All the right things happened in this one, if you’re an Oilers fan.
The obvious — eight goals — was the offence created in Edmonton’s biggest outburst of the season. But the powerplay scored a couple, Connor McDavid lit it up with a goal and five points, and the Oilers rolled into a scheduled day off on Monday feeling pretty good about the areas that make this team tick.
“It’s nice to be able to break through and get our offence going a little bit,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a goal and went plus-4. “Early in the season the puck wasn’t going in. We were trying hard and trying to get around it, but I think it does help the confidence when they start going in.”
Ya think?
An eight-goal explosion is exactly what this club needs, with Vegas in town on Tuesday night.
Across the way, the Ducks were reeling. They’ve lost six straight.
“A lot of our guys are not used to seeing McDavid or Draisaitl, and that team’s fast, so we’ll learn from it,” said Ducks coach Greg Cronin. “We’re on a bit of a losing streak, we’ve got to figure out a way to get out of it.”
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Zach on Attack
Zach Hyman scored two more goals Monday, and now has 12 goals in 20 games.
After scoring a career-high 36 last season, he’s on pace to perhaps reach 40 for the first time in his career.
“Goal scorers, no matter who you are — Ovechkin , Stamkos, Matthews — they’ve got an exceptional shot,” began Knoblauch. “Maybe (Hyman) doesn’t have that natural ability to score from the perimeter or outside the dots, but as good as they are at scoring goals it usually (happens) around the net.
“Zach’s been going to the net and not getting tied up. He’s getting inside position, and not allowing defenceman to lift his stick. And he’s been rewarded.
“And,” the coach added, “it doesn’t hurt playing with Draisaitl and McDavid. They find him a lot.”
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Back To Fine Form
It just never seemed right to have to scroll to Page 3 or 4 to finds Connor McDavid’s name in the NHL scoring race. But there he sat, somewhere in the 100’s, for much of the first 18 games of the Oilers’ season.
Was he healthy? Couldn’t be…
Had he lost his confidence? How can that happen to a player of this pedigree.
Whatever it was, McDavid busted out with his first three-point night of the season in Washington, with a four-assist night. Then, another 1-4-5 on Sunday against Anaheim, and a player who stood 39th in league scoring when he awoke Sunday morning went to bed in 16th place and climbing.
“Confidence is obviously a bit part of it,” said McDavid, who has 12 points in his last 4 games. “Our whole team is playing better and I think that is why you are starting to see guys have success. It is not just a light switch that one or two guys can just turn on — it takes a whole group.
“Our group has been playing better of late and you are starting to see guys have a little bit of success. Guys are making plays and it is just going in.”
It was the 39th three-plus assist game for McDavid, who passes Jari Kurri for third place in that category in the Oilers record books. He trails only Mark Messier (41) and, of course, the great Wayne Gretzky, who only accomplished that feat 143 times.
It was McDavid’s ninth career five-point game. No active NHL player has that many.
“I’m not sure what turned it around,” said Knoblauch. “He’s an elite athlete — he was going to figure it out.”
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Evander Kane had a goal, an assist, and 10 hits in 18:47 of ice time. Through this whole team slump he has been one of Edmonton’s most consistent players … With two assists it was the first multi-point game of Vincent Desharnais’ career … Cam Fowler went minus-5 for the Ducks … the Oilers have a scheduled day off on Monday and hoist Vegas for the first time since last year’s playoff series loss on Tuesday.
