EDMONTON — It was a wicked stretch to navigate, a series of games against the very best teams across the National Hockey League that started last Tuesday when Tampa arrived in snowy Edmonton.
If you are one of those teams yourself, it’s a challenge. If you’re not, the truth is going to hurt. It’ll bury you.
The Edmonton Oilers looked at a pre-Christmas schedule that rolled out the Lightning, a trip to Minnesota to face (at that moment) the NHL-leading Wild, a Saturday matinee against Pacific-leading Vegas, a Stanley Cup rematch against the No. 1 team in the Atlantic in Florida, and finally, Thursday’s game against Boston. The Bruins hadn’t lost in regulation at Rogers Place since before the pandemic.
Five games against five of the Top 11 teams in the league, points-wise, and with a 3-2 overtime win over the Bruins on Thursday night the Oilers can say they won four of them. Their only loss, a 6-5 run-‘n’-gun with the Panthers.
“It was a tough stretch with really good teams coming in here,” said Leon Draisaitl, who piled up four goals and 14 points in this stretch, registering a multi-point game every night and in seven consecutive games now. “It tells me that we can beat any team on any given night. It should give us a lot of confidence going forward.”
Look, you make it to the Stanley Cup Final, you’re a good team. But there’s always insecurity. A need to prove to the league — to yourselves — that you’re every bit that good again.
That the new guys in the lineup can weather a series of games against the best, and come out playing .800 hockey.
It’s one of those things that, if you come through unscathed, a team can build on the belief that already existed. If it goes the other way — and you can’t hang with the big boys — it’s back to square one. It leaves you to wonder, and wondering is never good.
Then you reach the final game of the stretch, and have a first period as bad as Edmonton has had in weeks. The Oilers hit the first intermission Thursday trailing 2-0, but it could have been a four-goal deficit.
Things aren’t working. So now what are you going to do?
“We had a good conversation during the intermission,” said big Mattias Ekholm, who would score the overtime winner in this 3-2 win. “We said, ‘We might not score six tonight. We can’t do that every night.’
“Sometimes it’s just, grind it out, get one a period, maybe go to overtime… That was the case tonight. I give us credit for sticking with it, battling, not opening it up and turning it into a two-on-one fest.
“A different way to win a game, but I don’t mind it.”
The operative word in that quote, of course, is “win.”
The Oilers bested Tampa 2-1 in a defensive gem. Then they walked into Minnesota and trounced the Wild by a 7-1 score. Then a 6-3 victory over Vegas where they jumped to a 5-0 lead. Now, a come-from-behind overtime win over the Bruins.
All different ways to win, all worth the same two points.
“Key plays at key moments,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “You look at tonight: we’re only a couple of minutes away from losing that game, and Connor makes a key play at a key moment. He almost wills that puck into the net.”
McDavid came through at the key moment, tying the game 2-2 with 2:21 to play on an industrious play. Draisaitl had a strange three-assist night — no real saucers but effective touches nonetheless — to reach 900 career points in game No. 751.
Goalie Stuart Skinner, who watched the first Bruins shot glance off Draisaitl’s shaft and go bar-down behind him, stopped David Pastrnak on a breakaway with the Oilers down 1-0. He filibustered the Bruins offence until Edmonton’s came around, stopping 24 pucks.
Zach Hyman, playing with a badly broken nose and wearing a full face shield, scored a goal and added an assist in a courageous effort.
What does all of that tell the coach?
“They like a challenge,” Knoblauch said. “It’s one thing to beat the teams that are in the bottom of the standings — it’s important to keep those teams below you — but if those are the only games you’re winning it’s not a good indication of being a good team.
“I like the fact that the guys got excited about the challenge of the games that we had upcoming, and I thought we handled them pretty well.”
The last two games before the Christmas break are home games against San Jose and Ottawa on Saturday and Sunday.
The Oilers have won six of seven and 10 of 13, but can’t gain any ground on either Vegas or Los Angeles, who just keep winning in the Pacific.
They beat the best teams. Now the Sharks and Sens arrive.
Funny, they hand out the same amount of points for those games, too.
