EDMONTON — There was a time not so long ago, when the Edmonton Oilers would have turned Connor v. Connor into a 7-4 track meet. When what we watched in the first period — an unforgettable release by Connor Bedard followed by a summer hockey session for the ages — would have lasted for 60 minutes.
But alas, these Oilers have finally matured to the point where they realize, as much fun as that type of game can be, in the end it’s a big ol’ trap.
It’s fun to watch, and you can win a few along the way playing that way. But you won’t when it counts, playing like that, so eight games ago they adopted a defensive posture and haven’t lost a game since.
“When you are that far out of the playoffs, you can’t play like that,” reasoned Zach Hyman. “We know that, long-term success-wise, you have to do things the right way to win. You can’t flip a switch and turn it on at the end of the year — you’ve got to do it throughout the whole year.
“You can’t pick and choose when you play the right way. You have to play the right way the entire game.”
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This was Bedard versus McDavid, Edition 1, and the precocious 18-year-old played his best card just 3:21 into the game. He gave 18,347 fans a memory that will last forever, zipping a wrist shot past Stu Skinner on a move we’ve never quite seen before.
We’ve seen Brett Hull fire pucks home from all over the ice, and ogled at the elegant wrist shot of the great Joe Sakic. We’ve seen Messier rifling off of one foot coming down the right side, or Mike Bossy, Alex Ovechkin and Leon Draisaitl each turn half a chance into one of their 50 goals each season.
But this Bedard kid, he does it just a little bit differently than all who have come before him.
On Tuesday, in his first ever NHL visit to Edmonton, Mattias Ekholm closed on Bedard, placing a stick across his path. In one motion Bedard pulled the puck about a foot towards the inside and fired high glove past Stuart Skinner, a combination of quickness, power and accuracy that few in the game have displayed, all at the same time.
There was no backswing, zero follow through, and one of the hardest most surprising wrist shots that’s ever been tucked under a crossbar in this rink.
“He made a really nice move, a very quick release,” said Skinner. “He placed it really well, too. It’s pretty hard to move it that fast and still pick a corner.
“It’s a goal where I would tip my hat, but I also know I can do something to improve on that. I’m going to look at video, talk to Dustin Schwartz (goalie coach) and figure out a way to stop it next time.”
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With due respect to an Oilers goalie who has truly found his game here, they said the same thing when Ovechkin showed up — and goalies never figured him out.
“That’s a world-class shot, right there,” said Chicago’s Jason Dickinson. “That’s a play… it’s muscle memory. He knows his spot, he knows where he is and he knows where the net is. He’s just picking that spot and he’s making the goalie try to beat him. And sure enough, he won that one today.”
Alas, that’s the only moment of this game the understaffed Blackhawks would win.
Edmonton led 2-1 after a first period in which the shots were 14-8 in Chicago’s favour. Then they hit their dressing room, talked about playing the game on which a seven-game winning streak has been built, and in the final 40 minutes Edmonton outscored Chicago 2-0 and outshot the Blackhawks 21-9.
An Oilers team that has given up just a single goal in four of its past five games — that’s limited its opposition to two or less six times on this eight-game winning skein — simply shut the Blackhawks down to win 4-1 — rather than making it a “points night” and winning 7-3 or 8-4.
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“Certainly not the game that we want to play,” said Sam Gagner, who had a goal and two points, of the opening frame. “It’s understandable. We’ve had a good stretch here, and it’s human nature to have a period like that every so often.
“But I thought we did a really good job of talking about it and making sure that we got back to the way that we know we’re successful. Stu did a great job of allowing us to find our game, and we went from there.”
The Oilers have won all four games so far on this six-game homestand, with Tampa and Florida left on the docket. They’re piling up the wins and went to bed just one point behind Arizona, holders of the second wildcard spot, with two games in hand.
What a difference a month makes.
