Following a shaky 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Edmonton Oilers restored confidence for their faithful fans with a very mature 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights, kicking off their four-game road trip on a high note.

With that in mind, in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we chat about a couple of new acquisitions who made an impact against the Golden Knights, Jake Walman’s continued struggles, the possibility that Connor Ingram is taking a step forward, and Vasily Podkolzin setting a new career-high in goals, making some pretty plays of late.

Connor Murphy, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks just before the trade deadline, came in billed as a big, strong defensive defenceman who plays tough in front of the net and helps keep pucks out of his own.

However, he had a tougher outing in his first game wearing the orange and blue against the Carolina Hurricanes. He played 20:31, and while there were some nice defensive plays, he was on the ice for three goals against.

Yet, if the kind of game Connor Murphy had against the Golden Knights is what the Oilers can expect from him down the stretch, the deal to acquire him for just a second-round pick could end up looking like a steal for GM Stan Bowman.

The Oilers’ D-man made several excellent defensive plays throughout the game against Vegas, including heavy hits on the boards that erased the opposition from plays. Yet, the shutdown play that stood out most to me was when Pavel Dorofeyev came down one-on-one with Murphy. The skilled Russian tried to make a move on the Oilers’ blueliner, but he wouldn’t be fooled; he stayed with him and dropped the Golden Knight to the ice with a check.

Overall, Murphy played the second-most minutes (22:33) on the Oilers against the Golden Knights, recording two hits and two blocked shots. It’s early, but he put on a defensive master class against Vegas, and the team will certainly need that, and a whole lot more, against the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche, whom the Oilers face next.

On a night in Vegas filled with many positives for the team, a couple of Jake Walman’s bad plays stood out just as brightly as the shiny lights in Sin City.

In the second period, the Oilers’ third line had some good sustained offensive zone time. When Kasperi Kapanen got the puck back to him, Walman’s shot was blocked by Mitch Marner. As he tried to chase the Golden Knight down, he stumbled, and Marner went the other way for a solid scoring chance.

Later in the second period, Walman went to chase a puck along the boards in his own end, fell, and was crushed by a Golden Knight before he hit the ice, and he was visibly wobbling after the hit. The play continued, and Vegas created a couple of scoring chances while Walman was later looked at on the bench for possible injuries. Later in the period, he slashed Brandon Saad’s stick, breaking it and putting his team down a man.

This comes after the game against the Hurricanes, where he had a series of defensive breakdowns, and he was on the ice for three goals against.

The positive is that Walman, who was on for three goals against Carolina, wasn’t on for any against the Golden Knights, which we can call baby steps. That said, he was dealing with an injury earlier in the season and looked banged up after going into the boards against Vegas. This is pure speculation, but if he’s feeling the effects of a lingering injury, taking a night or two off in favour of Spencer Stastney might not be a bad idea.

We’ve seen Walman at his best in last year’s playoffs, blocking a ton of shots, scoring goals, and full of confidence and swagger, and he isn’t anywhere near that level right now.

The St. Albert, AB, native Colton Dach was acquired in the trade, along with Jason Dickinson, from the Blackhawks before the deadline. In his first game against the Hurricanes, he played 9:31 minutes, threw a couple of hits, and nearly scored, ringing a shot off the post, but went -3 on a night when the team didn’t play well.

However, Dach was a lot more noticeable in his second game in Oilers’ silks.

In the first period, he mixed it up in front of Vegas’ net with Rasmus Andersson, injecting some fourth-line energy — similar to what Connor Clattenburg did earlier in the season.

In the second period, he was instrumental in Trent Frederic’s goal. The fourth line went to work down low, and Dach made a heavy play along the boards to keep the play alive. The puck eventually got to Evan Bouchard, and Dach immediately went to the front of the net, causing a disturbance and drawing Jeremy Lauzon toward him.

Dach’s ruckus created space for Frederic, who had a couple of whacks at the puck before it went into the net, with the St. Albert, AB, native picking up an assist and his first point as an Oiler.

The impressive part? He did it all in only 5:04 of ice time, which, honestly, the anthem singer might have had more ice time than Dach.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game, regarding what he liked on that goal from both Dach and Frederic, “It’s never going to be pretty, but it’s effective, and we need more hockey like that out of those two.” Well, coach, to make that happen, they — especially Dach — will need to play more minutes.

It’s early, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Dach. At 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, he has the tools of what a big, tough fourth line needs, and according to NHL Edge data, his 22.58 MPH top speed this season ranks in the 70th percentile in the NHL — meaning, for a big guy, he can get around the ice pretty well. He has his first point as an Oiler and is settling in nicely; now let’s see what he can do with more minutes.

The Oilers have been waiting for one of their netminders, Tristan Jarry or Connor Ingram, to have a statement game. It looked like Ingram was on the verge of taking a step forward when he allowed only one goal in the 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 26, but he then gave up nine goals in his next two games — one in a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks and another in a 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.

That said, I feel that his performance against the Vegas Golden Knights, making 24 of 26 saves, posting a 0.923 save percentage (SV%), and stopping all three high-danger shots he faced, could be the turning point in the solid goaltending the team needs from him.

When Knoblauch was asked after the game about the play of his netminder, he said, “He was great — just composed.”

Ingram, against the Golden Knights, was exactly that — calm and composed — looking more like the netminder we saw when Jarry was out with an injury, where he put up a .903 SV% in seven games.

That said, by now you know the method I’d like the Oilers to use in deciding which netminder gets the next start: you win, you’re in. And with what I feel might be Ingram taking a step forward, I’d like to see him get the start next game, when the Oilers face a very tough Colorado team.

With how inconsistent the Oilers have been this season, there aren’t many things you can count on night in and night out, but one constant has been the reliable play of Vasily Podkolzin.

Some of the consistent elements the 24-year-old brings night after night are his hard work, winning puck battles, and standing up for teammates, like when he dropped the gloves with the Ottawa Senators’ Ridly Greig three games ago after he drilled Mattias Ekholm. Yet, over the last couple of games, he’s added another element too — scoring some very pretty goals.

Against the Hurricanes, he skated in, picked his spot, and absolutely lasered the puck high past Frederik Andersen.

Two nights later, back on the second line, he turned on the jets, pumped his Podkolzin pistons off a defensive-zone draw, went in all alone, and beat Adin Hill with a nice move for his 15th goal of the season, setting a new career-high.

In chatting with his skills coach, Ned Lukacevic, I asked him what he thought about Podkolzin’s play as of late, especially the snipe that he scored against the Hurricanes. He mentioned:

All of Podkolzin’s 15 goals have come at five-on-five, which ranks third on the team behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s 16. Also, according to Natural Stat Trick, his 1.01 goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five ranks second on the team, just behind Zach Hyman’s 1.03.

Podkolzin has put in the hard work, being the first player on the ice for practices and working with a skills coach, Lukacevic, in the offseason. Overall, it’s tremendous to see a player who works so hard be rewarded. A big hats-off to Podkolzin for setting a new career-high in goals — he deserves every bit of it.