The Jake Walman era has arrived with a bang in Edmonton.
And while he got his first point in an Edmonton Oilers uniform setting up Zach Hyman with a beautiful stretch pass, he made his mark physically, too, most notably blowing up Mikko Rantanen with a huge hit. Not only that, but Walman was tasked with defending a one-goal lead late in the game with Darnell Nurse that saw the Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 5-4.
Let’s dive into the scoring summary.
Dallas opened the scoring on the power play with Leon Draisaitl having slashed old friend Cody Ceci on the hands, and it was Wyatt Johnston — fresh off a new contract extension — who cleaned up a rebound at the side of the Oilers net.
It didn’t take long for the Oilers to respond, however, as just 24 seconds later, Zach Hyman would jam home his 21st of the season. The goal came in thanks to a great effort from Connor McDavid, who looked like his old self more than ever all night long.
The Oilers captain danced around a sprawling Mikael Granlund in the Stars’ zone, driving down low to the net and tucking a puck behind Jake Oettinger. There, Hyman had himself planted to bury the loose puck.
It was Hyman again who made his impact felt with under eight minutes to go in the first frame, but it wasn’t 97 setting him up. This time it was 96, newcomer Jake Walman, who lobbed a beautiful stretch pass right onto Hyman’s stick, giving him a breakaway where he once again bested Oettinger.
The Oilers weren’t done there when it came to pouring on the offence in the first period. With under three minutes to go, Evan Bouchard sent a pass across the width of the offensive zone to Viktor Arvidsson, who teed up a one-time blast to make it a 3-1 game.
McDavid was buzzing in that first period, but he carried it over to the second, too. He carried it out of the Oilers zone and put on the burners with only two to beat: defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin and Oettiner. He manhandled the first one, putting a swim move on him at Dallas’ blue line, then corralling the puck, putting it on the back hand and burying it top shelf.
Connor Brown continued the onslaught late in the second after creating a turnover in the neutral zone, stripping Lyubushkin of the puck, and turning it the other way. He tried to send a cross-ice pass to Mattias Janmark, but that was blocked by Thomas Harley. The puck boomeranged back to him, scoring on Oettinger’s short side.
For as high as the vibes were after the second period, things took a turn in the third as Dallas got back into the game.
Rantanen scored on another power play opportunity one-timing a cross-ice pass home five minutes into the period, only for Jamie Benn to make it 5-3 11 seconds later, flipping a back hander home. Things calmed down a little bit, but not before a bad bounce made it 5-4.
Mat Dumba took a shot from the point that was kicked out by Stuart Skinner, only for the puck to bounce off Ty Emberson’s skate and into the Oilers crease.
Edmonton’s schedule continues with a four-game road trip kicking off Tuesday in Buffalo, before visiting the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers.

Backhanders…

  • Circling back to Walman, he was such a bright spot all night long. His point and huge hit were moments that popped, but it was a calm, steady game all night for him. He played 20:01 at five-on-five, and a team high 2:45 on the penalty kill. He also took three shots on goal and blocked another trio. Not bad.
  • Mikko Rantanen, who reportedly was “well down the path” in contract extension talks about a potential trade-and-sign to join the Oilers Friday, may have gotten on the board with a goal and an assist, but he walked out of Rogers Place battered, finding himself on the receiving end of three big hits. One saw Max Jones level him deep in the Stars zone, another from Walman where he levelled him coming across his own blue line, and again in the third when Rantanen got dumped by the Oilers net.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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