The Edmonton Oilers were the better team for the full 60 minutes last night in Nashville.

They were all over the home team early, outshooting them 8-0, but they were unable to lead on the scoreboard. Despite giving up the first goal, the Oilers didn’t sag and instead kept attacking and dominating play. They led 2-1 and saw the Preds tie the game 2-2 with 2:15 remaining in the second period, only to respond with the eventual game-winning goal 44 seconds later off the stick of Connor McDavid.

Edmonton outshot Nashville 23-8 at 5×5 through two periods and were deserving of a 3-2 lead. It was easily Edmonton’s most complete game of its first five games and should give the players a lot of confidence heading into Dallas for a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Final. The Stars won’t be shy on motivation tomorrow afternoon.

Edmonton’s defensive game has improved each game. They allowed six goals in their opener to Winnipeg, five against Chicago, four versus Calgary, three to Philadelphia and two last night in Nashville. They drastically lowered their high-danger chances last night. Nashville had one quality chance through 40 minutes. They pushed in the third and created a few more, but Calvin Pickard didn’t have to be great. He only needed to be solid and did not have to stop one rebound chance throughout the game. The Oilers did a fantastic job of forcing Nashville into one-and-done shot situations.

The quickest succession of time between shots was five seconds, and that came with 6:47 and 6:42 remaining in the game. Pickard never had to scramble, which is a credit to the skaters in front of him, but also how little time Edmonton spent in their own zone.

Brett Kulak played his 503rd regular-season game last night and scored two goals for the first time. He now has 23 goals in 503 games. He isn’t here for his offensive game, but Kulak has been an excellent addition since being acquired at the 2022 trade deadline. He excels in the playoffs and is steady in the regular season. He opened the scoring for the Oilers and secured the victory into the empty net with 36 seconds remaining.

He might have been more excited about how the team played than his own two goals.

Kulak was the first player to speak about their internal pressure for a good start and how that impacted the team.

The season opener against Winnipeg couldn’t have been worse, and with the heightened external expectations, it looks like they started to force things. Last night, they jumped all over Nashville and never relented. They were in control of the game, and even when Filip Forsberg opened the scoring, Edmonton didn’t sit back.

Since the first day of training camp, the Oilers have kept talking about the need for a good start. It makes sense after last season’s ugly 2-9-1 start. But was it realistic to think a team who, only three months earlier, had their dream of winning the Stanley Cup crushed in Game 7 of the Cup Final?

I went back and looked at the previous 10 Stanley Cup-losing teams to see how they fared in their first 10 games of the season after they lost. They averaged 11 points in their first 10 games for a record of 5-4-1.

Only four of the 10 teams had 100 points the following season, which is what the Oilers will need, at least, if they want to win the Pacific Division. It is doable, but a player from one of those teams, who didn’t want to be named, said this via text when I asked about being ready the following season after losing in the Final. “I’d lost in the playoffs before, but losing the Cup was so much fucking harder. Starting the next season is more challenging than some think. It is hard to find the proper motivation. The pace is so much slower and, at least for me, playing hockey reminded me more of losing. It was a bit of a fog the first few games. I can’t really explain it, but it took us some time to play the right way.”

That is one player’s viewpoint. Others might feel different and play differently, but as Kulak outlined above, the Oilers can’t win the Cup in October, and maybe the pressure to have a great start was a factor. We’ll never know for sure, but last night was a good step in how they want to play.

If they go 3-2 in their final five games and are 5-5 after 10 games, they will likely be happy after starting the season 0-3.

Edmonton has eight goals in five games from their forwards. Their 1.6 goals/game from forwards is the lowest in the NHL. Carolina, Anaheim, Detroit and San Jose are tied for the second-fewest with 2.0 forward goals/game. Leon Draisaitl and Jeff Skinner each have two goals, while McDavid, Corey Perry, Connor Brown and Adam Henrique have one.

Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Viktor Arvidsson, Mattias Janmark, Vitaly Podkolzin and Derek Ryan have none. Janmark has two assists, which is more points than the other five combined, as RNH has one assist and the other four are looking for their first point. Hyman, RNH and Arvidsson need to get going offensively. Hyman had his best game of the season last night, but RNH and Arvidsson still haven’t looked dangerous yet. Arvidsson has missed the net on his best one-timer chances.

The good news for the Oilers is that their defensive game has come around, which will usually lead to more offensive chances. It would also help if the power play got on track. It hasn’t looked dangerous at any point, although it is only five games.

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