After what was one of the wilder Oilers comeback wins you’ll ever see on Saturday against the Capitals, the boys were back at it against the red-hot Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks had won seven straight games ahead of Monday’s matchup in Edmonton, and it took two new NHL records by the Oilers’ defence to get past them. And while Monday’s game was certainly a rollercoaster, you have to love seeing the boys dust off a Pacific Division rival in their first meeting of the season. Final Score: 7-4 Oilers.

If you’ve been reading the site for any length of time, you know how much I love depth scoring. I don’t care who scores or how they score, but I get unreasonably excited when anyone not named Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Zach Hyman puts a puck in the net. It’s not that I don’t love those three players, Gord knows I do, but this team needs more than three shooters if it’s going to be successful. So to see five of the seven goals scored by the defence was incredibly exciting, and if we had gotten a sixth, I may have burst into a cloud of glitter. I honestly don’t remember the last time that happened around here, but what’s most incredible is that five goals from the Oilers’ blue line weren’t even the best part of the story.

Despite all of the Hall of Famers and star players who have rolled through town over the years, the Edmonton Oilers managed to set two NHL records last night. The first came during a stretch of four goals in just 3:49 of the second period, setting a new NHL record for the fastest four goals ever scored by defencemen. That’s completely unhinged. Then, just for good measure, Big Viking Daddy stepped up and capped off his first career hat trick with an empty-net bomb from below the goal line. Mattias Ekholm’s hat trick, combined with Evan Bouchard’s from Saturday, marked the first time in NHL history that a team has recorded back-to-back hat tricks by defencemen in consecutive games. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but do you think Bouchard and Ekholm are feeling a little snubbed by their respective Olympic teams? My own theories aside, last night was an incredible showing from the defensive group, and there was no chance they weren’t getting some love in the recap. Unreal.

I’ve really liked Spencer Stastney since he came over from the Nashville Predators. Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar with his game when he arrived, but he’s been quietly steady on the third pairing with Ty Emberson, and it was nice to see him finally get rewarded with his first goal as an Oiler. I’m not saying it was the prettiest goal he’ll ever score, but sometimes you take a friendly bounce off an opponent’s skate and say thank you very much. After more than a month with his new team, you’d have to think it felt good to not only get his first goal, but his first point in blue and orange. Nobody wants to be the bagels-on-the-board guy.

Not that we should expect Spencer Stastney to ever be a big point producer, but you know it had to feel good to contribute beyond the 15:32 of ice time he’s been averaging this season. And even though we’re talking about his first point in a month and change, I still think there’s more there. Stastney has such great wheels that it feels inevitable his skating is going to put him in positions to get involved offensively from time to time. Maybe I’m missing something, but from my side of the TV screen, he’s looking like a pretty good bet for a third-round pick. The minus-six beside his name isn’t ideal, but there’s a lot of runway for improvement, especially considering he was only playing his 104th NHL game. Congrats on the first goal and point, Spencer. Here’s to many more.

Hand up. I had no idea who Josh Samanski was when the Oilers signed him to a two-year contract back in April of 2025. When the news first popped up on the site, I did the usual review of his HockeyDB page and figured it was likely a depth move to help the Condors. Samanski had a solid year in Germany with the Straubing Tigers, and seemed like a worthy play to make on a kid who could add a little bit of touch and size down the middle. Made sense. What I never expected was that we would be seeing Samanski playing games with the Oilers. Yet, with seven goals and 28 points through 39 games in Bakersfield, the Oilers clearly see something in his game that merited a closer look, and I was very impressed with what he offered in his NHL debut.

After the rookie lap was done, though, Samanski didn’t see the ice as much as I would have liked. Not that I was expecting him to play big minutes or anything, but I did hope he’d get more than 7:43 in TOI after watching what he can do for a few shifts. The kid didn’t look out of place at all. Not only was he 3-1 on the draws, you know how I love me my faceoff wins, but he also had a great look for his first NHL goal and finished with a +2 rating. I’m not sure what the goal was for him in his first NHL game, but you’d have to imagine he’s done more than enough to get another one. I’m not trying to get too excited about a prospect here or anything, but it sure would be nice to have a surprise from Bakersfield swoop in and steal a spot in the lineup.

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