Kasperi Kapanen, Vasily Podkolzin, Brett Kulak, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
It’s not exactly the group you’d expect to lead the Oilers to a victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Still, Edmonton’s depth pieces came up big for them Saturday night, carrying them to a 4-1 victory, their second in as many nights.
The game didn’t quite start how they wanted, though, as Colorado was first on the board seven minutes in, when Nikolai Kovalenko scored with the man advantage, marking their lone goal of the night.
Edmonton responded well not just at five-on-five, where a goal from Kasperi Kapanen would come cashing in on a beautiful Connor McDavid feed three minutes later, but on the penalty kill, too.
The Oilers would find themselves short-handed four more times, with Stuart Skinner having to make just two saves on them.
“We were just talking about it, me and Picks, talking about how predictable the PK was,” Skinner said after the game. “Especially on a difficult power play that Colorado has, that’s a hard thing to do.
“For the most part on their power play, we were just able to give them plays that were open and not really make a mess out of things east-to-west, so it was amazing job by the PK. I think we’ve been doing a heckuva job for a while here now.”
And with the Oilers righting the ship there, they were able to continue to push play when the playing field was even. Vasily Podkolzin would continue his productive ways in the second period, scoring his third goal in as many games.
Some pretty passing in the offensive zone saw the Oilers cycling the puck, with Connor Brown getting it to Troy Stecher for a point shot. Podkolzin, meanwhile, parked himself in front of Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, battling for position with centre Casey Mittlestadt. The latter was no match, though, as Podkolzin would deflect that long shot home to extend Edmonton’s lead.
His hard work paying off, and while the results are nice, continuing the process is equally as important.
“It’s always fun to score, it’s always fun to be useful for the team, but again, I try to not talk about it too much,” said Podkolzin. “Just try to keep working and find this momentum.”
His teammates fed off it, as the Oilers handily controlled the second period, and early in the third, Kulak’s fifth goal of the season — one off tying his career high — extended Edmonton’s lead, while a Nugent-Hopkins empty-netter sealed the deal.
Stuart Skinner, meanwhile, stayed solid all night for the Oilers, turning aside 27 of 28 shots, and saving 1.55 goals above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. It was one of his strongest performances of the season on a night where his team in front of him played a strong defensive game.
Don’t look now, but the Oilers are going streaking. They’re now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, posting a .750 points percentage that’s tied for second-best in the league over that stretch. Their goaltending is still improved, just a hair under league average, but they’ve outscored their opponents at a 39-28 clip, a +11 rating which is the second-best rate over that time.
As November turns to December, the Oilers’ schedule continues Tuesday night in Vegas, with Edmonton closing out a three-game road trip with a stop in Sin City. The Oilers return home for three games against the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
