The Edmonton Oilers snuck out a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Rogers Place, but there wasn’t much time to enjoy it, as the boys were right back to work in the late slot on Hockey Night in Canada in their first matchup of the season against the Seattle Kraken. And much like they’ve done in their last five visits to Seattle, the Oilers handled their business and secured a big 4-2 win.

A lot of us — even me — piled on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins early in the season for the lack of offence he was producing and how he wasn’t taking advantage of the minutes beside Connor McDavid. Even though I think most Oilers fans don’t expect him to get back to the 100-point mark in a season again — the 2022-23 season was ridiculous for my man with 104 points — we need him to get in the 60-point neighbourhood. And through the first 19 games of the year, he was on pace to score four measly goals this year.

That’s why I’m pumped to see that he’s now scored goals in three straight games and nine of his last 19 games, which puts him back in line for a sixth 20+ goal season. Not to mention that the team is 9-0-1 in games where he’s scored a goal, which tells me that there would be no more valuable addition down the stretch than a Nugent-Hopkins heater. The guy isn’t going to score goals every night — no one expects that from him — but we do need to see him chipping in with offence at a rate that fits having him play with Connor McDavid. Right now, he looks to be back on track.

Since he’s been on the fourth line for the last few weeks and was even a healthy scratch not long ago, Jeff Skinner has been a major topic of discussion around these parts. While there’s little doubt that Skinner is talented, the debate rages on about how he’s being used in the lineup or whether he’s even a fit on this hockey team. That couldn’t be further from the plan we all had for him when he signed a one-year contract with the club as a free agent back on July 1st.

That’s why I was so happy to see Skinner get on the board in the first period with a beautiful goal that had Grubauer falling all over himself. The kind of goal reminds us of the sort of skill he possesses and why he’s scored 30 goals six different times. One of my hopes for the rest of the season is that the Universe grants Kris Knoblauch the code to unlock that talent and the plan to harness it effectively. If the Oilers can pull that off, he’s the exact kind of player who could chip in a huge goal or two when games start to matter the most.

If the Oilers are going to maintain pace with the Vegas Golden Knights at the top of the division, they will need to string together wins no matter how they acquire them. What I’m saying is that finding ways to win ugly games is the only way the Oilers can hang onto their chance of winning the Pacific Division. Not every game can be a Picasso, but finding ways to grab two points, even with your B or C-game, is crucial to long-term success. And I think the Oilers did a good job of that this weekend.

On Friday night, the boys ground out a sloppy win against the Anaheim Ducks, even though it could have quickly gone the other way with a different bounce or two. On Saturday, the boys were much more dominant for long stretches of the game and looked more like the team that dominated the bulk of their December schedule. That’s not to say there weren’t a few bumps along the way — Edmonton took their foot off the gas to start the third period — but they did a fine job of bending without breaking, ultimate securing another big divisional win that they had to have.

1. It annoys me that the goal Chandler Stephenson scored happened due to a sloppy giveaway by Kasperi Kapanen at the offensive blue line. For whatever reason, the boys aren’t respecting the blue lines as much lately, and the giveaways in that spot are driving me nuts and winding up in the back of the net.

2. Viktor Arvidsson has had so many chances to score over the last couple of games that it makes me wonder what’s possible if he can ever get hot. It’s like his sights are off by a quarter turn or something because he could have scored at least two or three highlight-reel goals over the last two games if he had a little bit of luck. Either way, Arvidsson still managed to grab a pair of assists against the Kraken, giving him six points (2G, 4A) in his last six games.

3. Leon Draisaitl’s campaign for the Rocket Richard continued with his 29th goal of the season that game on the empty-netter that sealed the deal for Edmonton. The goal and assist he registered also extended his point streak to 14 games where he’s scored an incredible 12 goals and added 15 assists for 27 points.

4. I’m not going to take shots at Calvin Pickard in a game he won, but I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that this wasn’t the best start he’s had in a minute. Yet, at the same time, Pickard may have finished with 15 saves and a .882 save percentage, but a win is a win.

5. Hitting can be an overrated stat and I know that they can only be done when you don’t have the puck, but I’d really like to see the Oilers be more physical than to finish a divisional game with only seven hits. It’s understood that the team was built to score goals, but it would be nice to have a few players in the mix that competed with some jam.

6. Back to back games without a point for Connor McDavid and the Oilers still won? It happened, friends.

7. The Oilers have now won seven straight games over the Kraken and each of their last six trips to the Climate Pledge Arena. May this heater at Climate Pledge Arena never end.

8. I know you want to hear about how the Oilers won 56.9% of the faceoffs, and I would like to tell you about it.

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