The Edmonton Oilers clearly didn’t forget about what happened on Saturday night.

That was all put to bed Thursday night, settling the score in more ways than one with the Vancouver Canucks. Fireworks in the form of fisticuffs were expected by many, and we nearly got them.

But that wasn’t the way the Oilers wanted to handle things. Instead of taking care of the streets, they took care of it on the sheet, and boy — did they ever, scoring three first-period goals en route to a 6-2 win, and season-series win over the visiting side.

Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl and Adam Henrique all got on the board in the first frame, as Hyman would add another early in the second. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored one of his own in that period, while Kasperi Kapanen sealed it part way through the third.

“You look at the lines and obviously Leon has three points tonight, Rico’s line spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, Hyman getting two goals,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And then the fourth line.

“Philp setting up one goal, Kappy getting one at the end. Everyone, I thought, was contributing.”

While Brock Boeser and Filip Hronek each got on the scoreboard in a frantic second period, that wasn’t what got people talking: it was a scrum partway through the period.

As Calvin Pickard went to cover up a puck in the Oilers crease, the self-proclaimed “public enemy number one” in Edmonton, Conor Garland, poked at the netminder. A crowd quickly drew, as the team clearly weren’t a fan of more antics from the winger who has now been held off the scoresheet in three straight games.

While many went after Garland, getting entangled in that mess, Oilers winger Corey Perry went looking for some retribution of his own, grabbing Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes, tackling him to the ice. Penalties were handed out — and rightly so — as the dust settled for the time being.

The period ended without any more dust-ups, but as both teams went to their respective locker rooms for the second intermission, Canucks assistant captain J.T. Miller went up to Perry for what seemed to be a spirited discussion.

“I just asked him what he had for dinner, and how’s everything going,” said Perry after the game of their conversation, clearly poking fun at the trade turmoil surrounding the Canucks.

Things didn’t stop there. Early in the third, Canucks winger Teddy Blueger went up to Perry, dropping his gloves and throwing punches, while The Worm just stood there looking confused. It got better, too, as minutes later, defenceman Mark Friedman tried to egg Perry on, bumping him after the whistle and getting a game misconduct because of it.

“He was in a few scrums, he was getting involved playing his game,” said Knoblauch. “That started in the second period. There was a lot of talk.

“In fact, I heard it in the second period as I was walking off. They were yelling at Corey about fighting and there’s maybe some conversation I can’t talk about right now just on word use. They’re looking for him. He got under their skin, they’re looking for a fight, and the timing was perfect for us. Instead of being shorthanded, we’re playing four-on-four instead.”

Perry is built for these games, and he couldn’t have played his role as a heel any better. His ability to stay composed in these kinds of games is nothing short of impressive, continuously drawing penalties. On the season, he’s now drawn a team-leading 19 penalties, a mark among the league’s tops. When you account for his limited ice time, averaging just 11:26 per night, he’s drawing 2.12 penalties per hour — a mark that’s third in the league among all players with over 500 minutes.

“He’s probably the best in the league at it,” said Draisaitl of Perry’s ability to pick his moments. “He knows when to do what at the right times.

“That’s just a mature, really smart hockey play. I know it has nothing to do with hockey, but it’s a hockey play.”

For the Oilers as a whole, the win was a big one. They kept themselves from their first three-game losing streak since the first three games of the season, rebounding well from Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals, and last Saturday’s of the same score to these same Canucks.

The final countdown to the 4 Nations Face-Off begins, as the Oilers now have just seven games left until the mid-season tournament. They’ll host the Buffalo Sabres Saturday afternoon for some matinee action, before the Seattle Kraken, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs come to town, the latter of which happening on February 1st.

They’ll take a quick two-game jaunt to visit the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, before closing out against the Colorado Avalanche on February 7th.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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