In each of the Edmonton Oilers’ first four games of the year, a play named Connor — not McDavid — scored a goal.
It was Kyle Connor for the Jets. Connor Bedard for the Blackhawks. Connor Zary for the Flames. Connor Brown for the Oilers against Philadelphia.
McDavid would keep the trend alive Thursday night, scoring the Oilers game-winning goal to propel his club to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators. And while his lone goal was the deciding one, it was a pair from Brett Kulak that would help lift the team to victory.
“We kept it pretty simple, and we got to understand it’s not always going to go perfect,” said Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak. “I think that’s put a lot of pressure on ourselves to start the season well. I think the first few games, you get so discouraged when it’s not going perfect, but I thought it was like that tonight. We just stuck with the game plan and chipped away, and found a way to get the puck in the back of the net.”
It wasn’t the huge offensive explosion we’ve so come to expect from Connor McDavid and Leon Drasiatil against the Preds, but it was rather a solid effort all around, as the Oilers were able to grind Nashville down, keeping them winless on the season.
Facing a 1-0 defecit due to Filip Forsberg’s game-opening goal, Darnell Nurse and Predators forward Michael McCarron would drop the gloves, only for Brett Kulak to score his first of two goals Thursday a shade over 20 seconds later. Jeff Skinner would add his second of the year halfway through the second, as Jonathan Marchessault would tie it back up with 2:15 left in the period.
That, however, is when McDavid arrived. Defenceman Mattias Ekholm fired a shot on net that would stall in the slot, allowing the Oilers captain to pick it up, make one move on Predators goaltender Juuse Saros, and put it upstairs.
Edmonton would manage to stave off a push from Nashville in the third period, and Kulak would cap off his night with an empty net goal.
“It’s always fun scoring goals for sure, but it’s more fun when the team builds the game we did,” he said. “It feels like we’re getting out game back on track. Starting the season slow, it sucks, but (to) just play the way we did tonight to start the road trip, it was awesome.”
For the Oilers, it’s clear they’re starting to find their game. The season started in a way nobody hoped, but head coach Kris Knoblauch said he felt the team were looking not only in the past at last years Stanley Cup Finals loss, but ahead to this years playoffs far too soon.
“I think we were thinking about last year’s playoffs, next year’s playoffs and not thinking about what we need to do now,” he said. “It’s nice to see these last couple of games focused and playing more of what we should be.
The Oilers schedule continued Thursday with a 2 p.m. MST start against the Dallas Stars, before the team returns home to Edmonton to host the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins next Tuesday and next Friday.
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.
