From one of the worst games of the season for the Edmonton Oilers to one of their best. They looked like a completely different team Saturday than they did Thursday.
On Saturday evening, the Oilers hosted the New York Rangers, defeating the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners by a score of 6-2 to improve their season record to 11-9-2. With five days off before their next game, that’s how you want to go into a break.
Vasily Podkolzin scored his first goal of the season late in the first period and snapped a goalless drought in the NHL that went for nearly two years. He forced a turnover in Edmonton’s end and passed it up to Leon Draisaitl, who gave it back to Podkolzin in the slot for his first as an Oiler.
In the final minute of the first period, Darnell Nurse received a pass from Mattias Janmark and buried it past Jonathan Quick on the penalty kill for the 2-0 lead. It was nice to see Nurse rebound so quickly from his scary injury last weekend.
What wound up being the game-winning goal was scored midway through the second period, as Draisaitl and Connor McDavid had a two-on-one. McDavid passed it back to Draisaitl, and he scored his 16th goal of the season, tied for the league lead.
Edmonton continued to run up the score, as they scored three minutes later thanks to Evan Bouchard’s sixth goal of the season. Once again, Janmark picked up an assist, as did Adam Henrique.
Artemi Panarin got one back for the Rangers with just under five minutes left in the second, but McDavid scored his first of two goals 5:49 into the third period, as Bouchard made a nice cross-ice pass to find McDavid all alone with a gaping net. Kasperi Kapanen picked up his first assist as an Oiler.
Edmonton’s last goal of the game came from McDavid again halfway through the third period, as he outwaited Quick on the rush and slotted it past the netminder for his 11th goal of the season. The Rangers scored another goal late in the game, as the Oilers got back in the win column.
Takeaways…
Suddenly, the penalty kill has been a strength over the past handful of games. That win over the Rangers was the seventh consecutive game where the Oilers didn’t allow a goal on the penalty kill. They killed off all three penalties they took, making them 16/16 in their last seven games.
However, the Oilers’ power play still hasn’t gotten going, as they finished the night 0/3 on the man advantage. Coming into this game, the Oilers had a 16.7 power play percentage, tied for seventh-worst in the league.
Stuart Skinner had a good game between the pipes, saving 32 of 34 shots for a .941 save percentage. This was his seventh game of the season with a save percentage above .900, and his second-best game in terms of save percentage.
Mattias Janmark has arguably been one of the Oilers’ best forwards this season. He picked up two assists on the night, giving him 10 points for the season in 22 games. Along with Darnell Nurse and Mattias Janmark, his 10 points are tied for fourth in team scoring. Dawg.
Connor McDavid scored two goals and three points on the evening, giving him 11 goals and 28 points for the year. After missing a handful of games earlier in the season, the Oilers captain is approaching the top 10 in league scoring. Leon Draisaitl now has 16 goals and 30 points.
It’s a long while before the Oilers return to action, as their next game will be on Friday where they’ll head to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Hockey Club for the first time.
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