Like cats playing with food, the Edmonton Oilers made the New York Islanders think they could get away.
After building a 3-1 lead halfway through the third period, the Oilers let their opponents back in the game, as Anders Lee would score twice in five and a half minutes to tie it up.
The game was forced into an extra frame, and Edmonton wasn’t going to let it slip away. Almost instantly, the Oilers began to apply pressure on the Islanders, and while the big guns of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisatl, and Evan Bouchard couldn’t get it done early, it opened the door for the next line to put in some work—and boy, did they.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm flew over the boards, corralling loose pucks, generating scoring chances, and wearing down the Islanders’ side. It allowed for a line change on the fly, as Bouchard found McDavid, who fed Draisaitl for the dagger: a short-side, top-shelf shot that had just enough space for the three-inch puck to fit, securing a 4-3 Oilers victory.
“That’s all three of them, the whole goal was set up by them,” said Draisaitl after the game. “Unfortunately, you don’t get on the score sheet for that, but you rag the puck for I don’t know how long it was — 50 seconds, a minute — you get fresh guys out, and it’s in the back of the net. That’s all certainly the guys before us.”
The goal was a dagger for the Islanders, but it pulled the plug on a night the Oilers — more specifically the big guns — dominated. McDavid, in his second game back from an ankle injury, would score a goal and four points, taking eight shots on goal, while Draisaitl would add a pair of goals of his own raising his total to 12, tying the lead league. Evan Bouchard even had a big night, scoring a goal of his own and adding two assists in his best performance of the season.
“Nights like that, I don’t want to come off the ice,” said McDavid, who totalled 20 minutes and 55 seconds of ice-time. “Yeah, I felt good. I thought (Oilers head coach) Kris (Knoblauch) did a great job of getting me lots of opportunities tonight.”
Contribute he did, getting in on each of the Oilers’ four goals. It was a textbook performance from McDavid, who elevated his own career totals to 999, one short of becoming the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to hit the millennium mark.
McDavid opened his night feeding Draisaitl on the power play with the goal looking quintessential, as the Oilers captain sent a seam-pass through the slot to his No. 2, who made no mistake firing it home as he’s done so many times from his office. His second point would come in the form of a secondary assist, coralling a loose puck and cycling it to Mattas Ekholm at the point, before Bouchard blasting it past Ilya Sorokin.
His third point would be a goal of his own, and one he was probably lucky on. McDavid had tripped up a Islanders player at the blue line that went uncalled, before dishing on a give-and-go with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who sent a return pass for McDavid’s 5th.
“I thought he played an excellent game and I probably wasn’t using him enough in the first two periods,” said Knoblauch, who gave McDavid 6:15 in the first, 5:49 in the second and 8:02 in the third.
“In the third period, there was almost every second shift he was going out there. He had a heckuva game. Four points, but it could’ve been a lot more. When your top players are rolling and feeling good, it’s important for the coach to get them on the ice, because they’re going to make a difference.”
Make a difference he did.
It couldn’t come at a better time for the Oilers, either, who improved to 2-0 in his return from injury, having racked up 11 goals in wins over the Vancouver Canucks and Islanders.
Now, one point shy of 1000, the Oilers will welcome the Nashville Predators to town Thursday night.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
