Top to bottom, that was a huge performance by the Edmonton Oilers. The team’s MVPs, Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot, both came up huge, the special teams were strong, and the Oilers thoroughly battled their way to a win against a good team on the road.

Highlights

Chicago took the lead just seven minutes into the first period on a weird goal from Patrik Kane. The dark cloud kind of followed Cam Talbot around on this sequence as he shot the puck over the glass, giving the Hawks a power play. Soon after, Kane shovelled the puck towards the net and it made some weird bounces into the net. This isn’t really one where you can blame anybody, but boy, it seemed like a bad omen considering how things had gone for the Oilers the past few games.

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12:54 AM · Oct 20, 2017

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Towards the end of the first period, Connor McDavid went into Connor McDavid mode, which the Oilers badly needed. The captain grabbed the puck on an outlet pass from Kailer Yamamoto and went into turbo mode, busting up the ice and creating a 2-on-1 almost out of nothing. Brent Seabrook has to defend the pass and while Duncan Keith made a great effort to get back and cover McDavid, the MVP was simply too quick. He spun around and Keith couldn’t keep up, and before the defender knew it, McDavid had fed Patrick maroon at the side of the net for an easy tap in.

The goal from Talbot in the first period was a weird one, but aside from that, he was rock solid in net last night. A thing I mentioned (as did many commenters) after last game is that the Oilers simply weren’t getting big saves during the four-game losing streak. Last night, though, Talbot came up big multiple times against a Hawks team that can strike quickly. In the second period with the Oilers playing well, he made a great pad save on Brandon Saad to keep the momentum in Edmonton’s favour.

After a three-and-a-half minutes of wild a three-on-three overtime period that saw two fast, skilled teams to back and forth, Patrick Kane took a hooking penalty, giving the Oilers a chance to ice the game before the shootout. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins iced Jonathan Toews on the faceoff twice, the Oilers set up, moved the puck around, and Oscar Klefbom fed Mark Letestu for a classic one-timer bomb past Anton Forsberg. The celebration says it all. The Oilers needed this one.

By the numbers

The shot clock says the Oilers outshot Chicago 42 to 31, but when you dig a little deeper, it was actually a lot more lopsided than that. At even strength, Edmonton had 34 shots to Chicago’s 20, and the Oilers completely dominated in terms of high danger chances, outpacing the Hawks 13 to three. As you can see on the heat map above, the Oilers had a bunch of chances right in front of Chicago’s net, whereas the Hawks were kept to the outside for the majority of even strength play. Had the Oilers not taken five penalties, there’s a decent chance this game could have been a little more lopsided. But the numbers and the eye test will both agree this was a well-played game for Edmonton.

Thoughts

Cam Talbot was the first star of the game with a 30-save performance. The Oilers badly needed a goalie to step up and come up with some big saves for them, and Talbot did exactly that. This was a key thing that made them so successful last season. Even when the team had lapses, Talbot was often able to bail them out, and momentum stayed in Edmonton’s favour. Last night’s game easily could have gone like the Carolina game if Talbot let a few slide by, but he played a damn good game.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins looked like that 200-foot centre we all hoped he would develop into last night. He looks a lot faster and more energized than we’ve seen the last couple of seasons, and that was noticeable in both his offensive and defensive game. The best moment, I thought, from RNH last night was his showing on the power play in overtime. He went up against Jonathan Toews, a very good veteran centre, and won back-to-back draws, helping the Oilers get possession during the final minute of the period.
There were quite a few good performances last game, but another one that really stood out to me was rookie Kailer Yamamoto. He’s looked very comfortable next to Connor McDavid and seems to be taking more risks because of it. Yamamoto had 11 shot attempts and eight shots on goal last night, which very impressive. He’s so quick, not only with his foot speed but with his thinking, that he doesn’t really look like an undersized teenager out there.
I mentioned above Cam Talbot was huge in keeping Edmonton’s momentum, but the penalty kill also deserves a shoutout. The Oilers took five penalties last night (whereas the Hawks only took two) and completely shut the Hawks power play down. In the first five minutes of the second period, the Oilers killed a 5-on-3 and another penalty, all while holding Chicago to just one shot. Had the penalty kill not had a huge performance, the game could have tilted in Chicago’s favour early in the second.
Overall, this was a very good team performance. The Oilers looked much like the team we saw down the stretch last season. The defence was solid and made smart plays, the forwards looked energized and generated a lot of chances, and both McDavid and Talbot came up big when the team needed them. When they scored that overtime goal, the celebration really painted a picture of a team that badly needed a win and got one. This was a statement performance as the team did a lot of things well and grinded out a win against a good team on the road. Hopefully it can be a turning point.

Source: NHL.com, Official Game Page, 10/19/2017, 9:30pm MST