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The Day After: The Oilers cruise to another win over Ottawa
Photo credit: © Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Bring out the brooms.
With a 6-to-2 win last night over the Ottawa Senators, the Oilers earned a sweep in their three-game series and have pushed their winning streak to four games. They’ve also now won seven consecutive games over Ottawa this season and will have a chance to sweep the nine-game season series in April.
Unlike Wednesday, Ottawa kept things tight on the scoreboard for a good chunk of the game. Edmonton scored 10 seconds into the game, but the Sens tied things up a couple of minutes later. The Oilers carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, but Ottawa again tied things up with a power-play goal in the second.
Still, despite Ottawa hanging in, this always felt like a game the Oilers were going to win. Edmonton scored twice in the second period to go ahead by two and then added two more insurance goals in the third to cruise to victory.
The McDrai Combo was incredible yet again as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl scored three and two points respectively. But Edmonton also got offence from some depth players as Gaetan Haas scored his second goal of the season and Tyler Ennis scored his third.
Connor McDavid spoke after the game about how important it was for the Oilers to pick up these points against Ottawa after getting swept by Toronto last week…
“It’s big,” McDavid said. A lot was made with what happened last week with Toronto and we found a way to get those points back. It’s big. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it’s not easy to beat them three times.We know they work hard, we know they play an energetic game. They can be dangerous when that get that excitement in their game. They did a great job responding, I thought they controlled a lot of the first and we were lucky to come out up 2-1.”
Next up, the Oilers will head to Vancouver to play the Canucks. Under Dave Tippett, Edmonton is 11-1 on the second leg of back-to-backs and they’re undefeated (4-0) in such games this season.
“Vancouver has been playing great,” McDavid said. “They’re working hard, getting solid goaltending, playing solid throughout. It’s a big hockey game for us, it’s big for them. I’d expect a high pace game, a high energy game.”
Backhanders…
- With a three-point game on Friday, Connor McDavid has 51 points on the season, meaning it took him only 29 games to reach the 50-point plateau. He’s the first player to reach 50 points in 30 or fewer games in back-to-back seasons since Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine did so in 1991-92 and 1992-93. He’s on pace to score 98 points in 56 games this season. Hitting the century mark in a shortened campaign would be wildly impressive.
- Another interesting stat… With two points in last night’s win, Tyson Barrie has the most points among players who have joined new teams this season. He’s just ahead of Tyler Toffoli, who signed with the Montreal Canadiens in the off-season, and he also ranks second in the league in scoring among defencemen behind only Victor Hedman. Barrie has 24 points in 29 games, a nice rebound from the 39 points in 70 games he produced with Toronto last year.
- Darnell Nurse scored his eighth goal of the season on Friday. Seven of those have come at even-strength, which puts him in the lead among NHL defencemen in terms of even-strength goals. Nurse is only two goals away from tying his career-high for goals in a season (10) and is only 11 points from reaching his career-high in points (41). This season been quite the breakout for No. 25.
- Since starting the season 3-6-0, the Oilers have gone 15-5-0. Really the only blip on the radar for the Oilers since they got rolling is that three-game sweep at the hands of the Maple Leafs. Outside of that, the Oilers have been dominant. The team is facing a tough schedule over the next few weeks. They have Vancouver on Saturday night and then a back-to-back with the Flames, two teams they want to keep beneath them in the standings. After that, it’s seven games against playoff teams, as Edmonton hosts Winnipeg for two and then goes to Montreal for three and Toronto for two. This is a big stretch for the Oilers to prove they’re legit.
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