LAS VEGAS — Slowly, and we’re not yet ready to say surely, all the elements of a good hockey team are beginning to arrive for the Edmonton Oilers.
With six wins and 13 points in their past 10 games — and a couple of losses that you can live with — the game Northern Alberta has waited all season for is emerging like a springtime perennial, a solid nine games and three weeks before the first playoff game.
“It’s been only two games,” cautioned Mattias Ekholm after Edmonton capped a perfect two-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win at Vegas, “but I think that there’s been a trend in the last 10 that the wins we’ve gotten haven’t been lucky. They’ve been well earned.
“We’re getting solid goaltending. The D pairs are gelling, all three of them. Our lines are coming together and we know more what we’re supposed to do out there. We look more like a machine that is maybe a little bit more well-oiled. A little more well-working.”
On a steamy Thursday night just off The Strip, Edmonton led by a goal three separate times over Vegas. The Golden Knights have trailed more minutes this season than any other NHL club, and never led for a second Thursday.
In the end, however, there were two key moments that allowed for Evan Bouchard’s eventual overtime winner:
After ten-and-a-half minutes without a shot, Connor Ingram robbed a wide-open Noah Hanifin with a blocker save with 3:00 to play, to get his team to OT. There, with Zach Hyman in the penalty box, the Oilers penalty killing unit of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse and Connor Murphy gutted out the entire two minutes of a four-on-three, keeping the game alive for Bouchard to win it on the ensuing shift.
Bouchard’s bullet wrister went top cheese, his 20th goal of the season. He had a five-point road trip (1-4-5) and went plus-6 in Vegas and Utah, passing Kevin Lowe on the Oilers goal scoring list among D-men while becoming just the fourth Oilers defenceman to post a 20-goal season (Paul Coffey, Sheldon Souray and Charlie Huddy).
But the penalty kill was what got the biggest raves post-game.
“That’s just three guys getting it done. Nose down, going to work,” marvelled Ingram, who was excellent in this one as well. “These guys were out there for two full minutes and you couldn’t really tell. That’s something you can’t coach, you can’t teach. Just three vets who know how to go to work and get the job done.”
This was Edmonton’s fifth consecutive win at T-Mobile Arena, and eighth in their past 11 regular-season visits. They’ve also won four of the past six playoff games here, and with a Round 1 series between these teams more than likely, you’d think that would be a concern for Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy.
But he’s got bigger fish to fry these days.
“We’re just trying to… get in. It’s been a battle for us since the Olympic break,” admitted Cassidy, whose team has four wins in its last 15 games.
“If it is Edmonton (in Round 1), I’ll say, ‘Yes.’ But that’s the furthest thing from my mind right now. We’ve got other things to take care of.”
You can’t say Vegas doesn’t have time to turn its season around. Heck, the Oilers waited until about Game 65 before they hunkered down.
“It’s a great road trip. Two massive wins against two potential playoff opponents,” said Zach Hyman, who hit the 30-goal mark for the third time in five seasons as an Oiler. The other two years he had 27 goals, a free agent signing that just keeps on giving in Edmonton.
“We have to string more wins together before we start pump ourselves up,” Hyman said, “but every year everybody doubts what we can do. We have the team that, when we commit to playing the right way, it’s hard to score against us.
“It’s hard to play against a team that defends and on the other side we have guys who can break a game open.”
A power play that has not scored in four games is now 1-for-11 since Leon Draisaitl was injured.
With Draisaitl’s stature as an annual 50-goal centreman, and the power play good for one a night when he’s on it, it’s fair to say that losing Draisaitl costs Edmonton a goal per game. But rather than just trying to score their way out of that problem, Draisaitl’s absence has been a catalyst to play a stingier defensive game.
“Sometimes, when you lose one of your top players, it just allows everyone to step up to their game and play a little differently,” Knoblauch said. “Obviously we miss Leon, and we can’t wait to have him back. But our team’s done a pretty good job of rising to the occasion.”
A head coach who has been asking his team for some focus for most of 60-some games can finally see a product he can win with. If the Oilers have finally found their traction, after about 10 false starts this season — and when Draisaitl returns — teams won’t be lining up to face them in Round 1.
“We’re looking more like we’re playing a playoff game. Like things matter,” Knoblauch said. “Attention to detail — we’re simplifying our game. Yeah, it’s nice to see. Everyone seems like they’re dialled in.”
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