GDB 42.0 Wrap Up: Oilers extend winning streak to 13 games with Battle of Alberta victory

The wins just keep coming for the Edmonton Oilers.

The team added to their franchise-record winning streak with their 13th consecutive victory on Saturday in Calgary, as they edged out the Flames by a score of 3-1. Ryan McLeod opened the scoring in the first, the Flames tied the game at 1-1 in the second, and Sam Gagner and Zach Hyman scored in the third to seal the win.

The Oilers now own the longest winning streak ever by a Canadian team and they’re just the 12th team in league history to have a heater reach 13 games. They’re four wins shy of matching the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for the longest winning streak ever in the NHL.

This was a well-played, complete team victory for the Oilers, but the one most deserving of the Player of the Game nod was goaltender Stuart Skinner, who turned aside 26 of the 27 shots that the Flames threw his way. It was Skinner’s 10th victory in his last 10 appearances, tying him with Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr for the longest winning streak in team history.

— Ryan McLeod opened the scoring for the Oilers with a beautiful goal in the first period. After not putting a puck in the net for his first 21 games of the season, McLeod now has nine goals in his last 20 games since recording his first of the year against the Winnipeg Jets on November 30.

Speaking of goal droughts, Connor Brown had a prime opportunity to score his first goal of the season earlier in the first period but Daniel Vladar stretched across the crease to make an incredible save.

— Vladar was very sharp for the Flames in this one, but he allowed one weak goal early in the third period and that wound up being the difference. Sam Gagner picked up the puck behind Calgary’s net and tried to make a pass into the slot but it bounced off of a defenceman and then off of Vladar and into the net.

It was nice to see the Gagner, Brown, and Dylan Holloway line get rewarded with a bounce considering the strong game they played. They logged 7:07 at even strength and had twelve shot attempts compared to Calgary’s five and three high-danger scoring chances.

After Holloway came off of the Long-Term Injured Reserve, the Oilers sent him down to the American Hockey League to move from the wing to centre. He scored four points in four games for the Bakersfield Condors and came up on Saturday to play his first game in the NHL since November 13.

— The Oilers won this game with goals from their third and fourth lines and an excellent individual effort from Zach Hyman on an empty-net goal, but no offence from either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. It was just the 10th time in the McDavid Draisaitl era that the Oilers won a game without either of their Hart Trophy winners putting up a single point.

— There are three more games left for the Oilers before the All-Star break, as they’ll host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, and the Nashville Predators on Saturday. We shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but, if the Oilers can win those three games, they would go into Vegas after the break looking to tie the all-time record of 17 consecutive wins with a match against the Golden Knights.