The Oilers were in need of a statement win and, boy oh boy, did they get one. The Montreal Canadiens rolled into town and got completely blown out of the water by a fast, energetic, motivated Oilers team.

What happened…

The Oilers haven’t had very many fortunate bounces as of late, but they finally got one here to open the scoring. Matt Benning got the puck at the point and fired a clapped wide but it bounced off the boards and off of Antti Niemi’s back and into the net.
Soon after that, JJ Khaira flubbed a breakout pass from Matt Benning, giving Max Domi a break down the wings. That’s probably not the guy you want to give the puck to. Domi roofed a wrister over Mikko Koskinen’s shoulder to tie the game at 1-1.
Leon Draisaitl could have had about nine goals this game. In the first period, he hit the post twice and got stoned by Niemi in tight a few other times. With a few minutes to go in the first, McDrai hooked up to give the Oilers the lead. Draisaitl took a pass from McDavid and finally managed to get it by Niemie (and the post) to make it 2-1. This duo is something else.
The Habs tied the game again a minute into the second period. Our old pal Jeff Petry did some good work along the boards to get the puck to Jonathan Drouin behind the net who found pesky Andrew Shaw out front.
MORE fortunate bounces?! Immediately after Montreal tied the game, Drake Caggiula gave the Oilers the lead with a weird one. Caggiula brought the puck into the zone, dropped it off for Alex Chiasson who took a clapper on the net. Caggiula, who was driving towards the net, picked up the rebound in mid-air, dropped it down, and smacked some kind of wedge shot on net that managed to work its way through Niemi.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins extended the lead in the third period with a snipe past Niemi. He also helped Ryan Strome earn his first assist of the season on this one! Kris Russell also buried his first goal in 42 games with a shot from the point and Darnell Nurse scored another goal to make it 6-2 before the end of the game. Offence from everywhere!

By the numbers…

The numbers pretty much exactly line up with what we all saw last night. The Oilers absolutely pounded the Canadiens from the beginning to the end of the game and never took their foot off the gas. The score honestly flatters Montreal a little bit. While Antti Niemi allowed a couple ugly ones on Benning and Caggiula, he also robbed Draisaitl in tight a few times and, had he not stood tall, the Oilers could have buried 10 goals last night.

Thoughts…

  • The Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl connection was dominant last night. Putting those two together is always a recipe for success… when they’re on the ice. The key here is whether or not the rest of the team can stay above water in the ~40 minutes those two are watching from the bench at the same time. Last night, they did.
  • The fourth line was excellent and energetic yet again against Montreal. It seems this trio has simplified things as they’re now aiming to pay physically and make life difficult for the opposing team. They’re playing a more simple, north-south game with a lot of physical play, which is a recipe for success for a fourth line. They were Edmonton’s best line in terms of shot attempt differential, letting Montreal fire only seven shot attempts towards the net while generating 17 of their own.
  • The third line was still largely devoid of offence last night, but at the very least, they don’t give anything up the other way. The Lucic/Strome/Rattie trio only allowed Montreal to get three high danger chances when they were on the ice. You’d like to see them chip in with some offence, but if they can thrive as a defensive group, that’s better than nothing.
  • Mikko Koskinen had another strong game. He stopped 27 of 29 shots, and while he had quite a bit of room for error, the game could have gone a little sideways in the second period before the Oilers broke away. He did a good job of keeping things calm in net, allowing the Oilers to open up and really control the game offensively.
  • Back to the McDavid line, everyone knows him and Draisaitl are going to work magic together. The interesting part of the line last night was Drake Caggiula, who had probably his best game of the season. He was all over the place, playing gritty on the backcheck, playing pesky on the forecheck, and driving the net to open space for his two elite linemates. He might be The Answer for this top line.