The Edmonton Oilers completed arguably their most commanding win of the season on Saturday night, beating the New York Rangers 6-2 on Hockey Night in Canada.
It was a strong effort from top to bottom for the Oilers, who peppered the Rangers with 21 shots in the first period. Vasily Podkolzin opened the scoring with his first goal since arriving in Edmonton and Darnell Nurse scored a shorthanded marker in his return to the lineup.
Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard scored in the second frame to extend the lead to 4-0 but Artemi Panarin got New York on the board in the latter part of the period. In the third, Connor McDavid potted his 10th and 11th goals of the season and Panarin added another in the dying minutes when the score was already out of reach.
Stuart Skinner turned aside 32 of 34 shots for the win, a nice rebound after he allowed five goals on 26 shots to the Minnesota Wild earlier this week. Jonathan Quick came into the game with a .970 save percentage for the Rangers across his first five appearances on the season and the Oilers got six goals past the veteran on 40 shots.
With a five-day break on the horizon, this felt like an early-season must-win for Edmonton. The Oilers have struggled with consistency throughout the first month and change of the 2024-25 season but Saturday’s effort was a reminder of how good this team can be.
What they said…
Head coach Kris Knoblauch on the Oilers finding their offence…
“I think in the last five games, we’ve scored four or more goals in three of them. Tonight was one of those nights we put some pucks in, which feels good, and we did it against a goalie that had been playing extremely well.”
Vasily Podkolzin on scoring his first goal with the Oilers…
“It took much longer than I thought. But sometimes, God gives you a little bit of a challenge to make you a better hockey player and a better person. So I’m happy with it, and I’ll just keep working and keep going.”
Knoblauch on Podkolzin breaking out of his scoring slump…
“He’s never cheated the game. He was playing well and wasn’t scoring goals. He just continues doing what he’s supposed to be doing, and a lot of respect to him for that.”
Darnell Nurse on returning to the lineup after last weekend’s injury…
“I pushed a little bit to be in, but with that said, it’s the brain. With head injuries and stuff, you’re not going to go out there unless you feel 100 percent that you’re capable of going out and doing your job. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you’re setting yourself back months, so I think we did a really good job of taking care of it. There’s a lot of work that went into it, but I felt very comfortable to go out there and just play.”
Nurse on winning at home and gaining some momentum…
“I think there’s a lot to build off of and it’s one of those foundation games that I think can build you some momentum if you take it and use it the right way. You want to be good on home ice, especially against good teams, and we did that tonight.”
