EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers have officially transitioned from a middling, underachieving group to their rightful status as a contender that just finds ways to win.
The Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday, capping a five-game run against strong competition with four victories to improve to 19-11-2 on the season.
“We’re up there with those good teams,” Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. “That’s what you’ve got to take from this.
“We can compete with any team in the league.”
That was Ekkin’ awesome 🤩 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/xrUzpNOrRC
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 20, 2024
The Oilers are a long way from the mess they appeared to be in when they lost their first three games in October. They’re even several cuts above where they were a month ago when they looked listless in a 5-3 loss to Minnesota on Nov. 21.
They just faced Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Vegas, Florida and Boston in succession and beat all but the defending Stanley Cup-champion Panthers. Yes, the Oilers are for real.
“It should give us a lot of confidence going forward,” Leon Draisaitl said.
Especially the way they defeated the Bruins. It was hardly convincing. It certainly wasn’t dominant.
In a way, that made the outcome more impressive.
Stuart Skinner allowed a goal on the first shot of the game — the fifth time an Oilers goalie has done that this season. It looked like an awful one to surrender on first blush before a closer look determined that Elias Lindholm’s shot went off Draisaitl’s stick to fool Skinner.
The Oilers went down two goals after Mark Kastelic walked around Troy Stecher and beat Skinner. They were completely unclassed in the opening frame.
The score could have been more lopsided if Skinner hadn’t stopped David Pastrnak on a breakaway.
“We were a little slow,” Ekholm said. “We had a good conversation in the first intermission. We said, ‘We might not score six (goals) tonight.’
“We can’t do that every night. Sometimes you have to grind it out and maybe get one a period or maybe go to overtime.”
That seemed like the new mantra. The Oilers displayed more resolve and were undeterred even though quality offensive chances were at a premium thanks to the way the Bruins defended.
“We simplified our game,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Knoblauch and his coaching staff altered the lineup to jolt the group.
For the second time in as many games, he swapped Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to load up his top line. The shuffle paid off handsomely.
Zach Hyman, playing with a full face shield to protect a broken nose, scored in the second period. It was his eighth goal in seven contests since returning Dec. 5 from a separate five-game injury absence.
Connor McDavid powered his way through the Bruins defence to stuff a puck past goalie Jeremy Swayman with 2:21 left in regulation to tie the game.
“He almost wills that puck into the net,” Knoblauch said.
Ekholm then won it for the Oilers 1:04 into overtime by making no mistake on an uncontested shot from the slot following a feed from Nugent-Hopkins.
“When you get one of those chances — I don’t score overtime winners on demand — I’ve got to try to go for the top corner,” Ekholm said.
Draisaitl assisted on all three Oilers goals to move from 897 career points to 900. The 29-year-old accomplished the feat in just 751 games.
Leon assisted on all three goals in tonight’s #Oilers win to hit 900 @NHL points!@LegacyHCYeg | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/K2n85c6Z9X
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 20, 2024
“It’s pretty incredible to be his age and where he’s at in his age and have 900 points,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It’s an extremely hard thing to do and a hard thing to accomplish.”
The Oilers don’t come back to knock off the Bruins without the contributions of Draisaitl, McDavid and Hyman — the ultimate break-glass-in-case-of-emergency trio. Uniting the three stars got the Oilers on the board and then eventually on level terms.
But there was another in-game coaching adjustment that worked well, only this change was far from tried and true.
Ekholm and Evan Bouchard have played almost exclusively together at five-on-five since the former was acquired from Nashville on Feb. 28, 2023. That’s especially been the case in the 101 games with Knoblauch and assistant coach Paul Coffey behind the bench save for a brief stretch in February after a 16-game winning streak was snapped.
The only defensive pair that’s played more together at five-on-five this season is Calgary’s Kevin Bahl and Rasmus Andersson and it’s by one minute, per Natural Stat Trick. The Flames have played an extra game compared to the Oilers, too.
But the tinkering began in the second period and morphed into an almost full-blown switch in the third. Though Ekholm and Bouchard still got the occasional shift together, Ekholm mostly skated with Ty Emberson, and Bouchard got most of his time with Brett Kulak.
“We needed a spark for the whole D corps and the whole team,” Ekholm said. “It was nice to see a different partner and get out of your comfort zone a little bit.
“As of late, there’s been more for us (him and Bouchard) that we want to achieve than we have been. Tonight, it ended up being a good thing.”
Both new pairings had a positive impact, particularly the Kulak-Bouchard duo — which had a 10-6 advantage in shot attempts at five-on-five in 8:34 together, per NST.
“We needed a change,” Knoblauch said. “It wasn’t a pretty game. It wasn’t our best game. We wanted to change some things up.
“A new partner gives players a different outlook, hopefully a little energy, a little more focus to their game.”
All the lineup maneuverings indicated this one didn’t go as it was initially planned. The coaching staff pulled a couple of levers, and the players made it work.
After a 6-5 loss to Florida on Monday, the Oilers were in jeopardy of dropping back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since Nov. 4 and 6. They wouldn’t have that happen.
“You try to string (wins) together as much as you can,” Draisaitl said. “Consistency is key.”
And, yet again, they got the job done.
To win games the way the Oilers won Thursday showed how unstoppable this team is — and how unstoppable it potentially can be when the stakes get bigger in a few months.
“Playing against good teams usually brings out the best in us,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
(Photo: Perry Nelson / Imagn Images)
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