The fifth pre-season game?! It’s starting to feel like Spring Training around here!

What happened…

  • The Oilers rolled into Winnipeg and picked up a 3-2 victory in the shootout over the Jets.
  • Tyler Benson opened up the scoring a few minutes into the first period with his first goal of the pre-season.
  • Cole Perfetti, the No. 10 overall pick from the 2020 NHL Draft, scored a power-play goal in the first and the third period to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.
  • Jason Demers, who’s at training camp looking to earn a contract, tied the game up at 2-2 in the middle of the third period.
  • Overtime didn’t solve anything so the game was decided by a shootout, in which Devin Shore scored the winner.
  • Stuart Skinner was excellent in net for the Oilers as he stopped 33 of the 35 shots the Jets threw at him.
  • Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway both looked like NHLers in this game. Holloway picked up an assist on the Demers goal and Broberg led Edmonton’s blueliners in ice-time with 21:29.

The highlights… 

Jake Virtanen pressured Winnipeg’s defender as they were in transition in their own zone. The puck came loose and was fired up the boards where Tyler Benson grabbed it right at Winnipeg’s blueline. Benson came into the zone and roofed a shot over Connor Hellebyuck from the face-off circle…
This will be an interesting season for Benson. He likely won’t crack the team out of training camp but a good run in the pre-season and a strong start in the AHL will have him on the radar for a call-up. Having a league-minimum salary will also help Benson as the Oilers are in tough with the salary cap and the player with the smaller cap hit might be the priority.
Edmonton’s second goal came in the third period to tie the game at 2-2. The Oilers were on the power play and Dylan Holloway pulled off a nice fake-shot-pass through the middle of the zone to Jason Demers who one-timed it into the back of the net…
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We know all about Holloway’s speed but here’s an excellent example of his play-making ability. It’s getting more and more difficult to imagine Holloway going down to Bakersfield this year.

What’s next…

The Oilers still have three pre-season tune-up games to go before the regular season gets rolling. They host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, they play in Vancouver on Wednesday, and then they finish things off on Friday in Edmonton against the Seattle Kraken. Talk about a warm-up!