Ladies and gentlemen, the Edmonton Oilers are so back.
On Thursday evening, the Oilers played their first road game of the season, defeating the Nashville Predators 4-2 to bring their season record to 2-3-0.
Let’s go through the highlights and some key takeaways.
For the fourth time in five games, the Oilers allowed the first goal of the game, as Filip Forsberg deflected a point shot to put the Predators up 1-0.
Like Tuesday’s game, a fight sparked the Oilers, as Darnell Nurse dropped the mitts with Michael McCarron. It was a jab fest until Nurse got free and threw a few extra punches after McCarron was on the ice. Not great to do, but it’s nice to see a spark.
Shortly after, Brett Kulak scored his first of the season, taking a slapshot that Jusse Saros never saw. As the old adage goes, good things happen when you throw the puck at the net.
In the second period, the Oilers took a 2-1 lead as Jeff Skinner poked in the puck after the Oilers’ power play ended in a mad scramble. He’s been a pretty good signing for the Oilers five games in.
At the tail end of a four-minute double minor that really shouldn’t have been called, the Oilers made a terrible change that gave the Predators a whole bunch of space on the zone entry. Jonathan Marchessault scored his first goal as a Predator after a terrific deflection.
The game-winning goal was scored shortly thereafter by none other than Connor McDavid, as he picked up a loose puck in front of the net with Saros in no man’s land, scoring his first of the season.
Rocket Richard candidate Brett Kulak scored his second of the game into the empty net to ice the game for the Oilers. Just an all-around good game for the team.

Takeaways…

In the second period of Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Oilers woke up and played their game, not the other team’s game. In this one, they outshot the Predators 36-27, leading 28-14 in that category after two periods. They were, however, outhit 8 to 30.
Special teams remain a bit problematic for the Oilers early in the season. This time, they killed off two of three penalties but have allowed a goal on the penalty kill in four of the five games. Ironically, in all four games that they’ve allowed a goal on the penalty kill, they also surrendered the first goal.
What’s more, the power play just hasn’t clicked all season, scoring just one goal on 13 attempts, a Leon Draisaitl goal in the second game of the season. The good news is that they’ve been solid five-on-five.
Calvin Pickard was surprisingly named as the starter for Thursday’s game, saving 25 of 26 shots for a .926 save percentage. Good stuff from the Oilers’ backup netminder.
Edmonton returns to action on Saturday, facing the Dallas Stars at 2:00 PM MT. The last time the Oilers were in Dallas, they won a pivotal Game 5 of the Western Conference Final by a score of 3-1.
If you enjoy my content, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.