The Edmonton Oilers had both their highest scoring output and largest margin of victory this season in an 8-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place on Sunday (Nov. 26).
After losing three straight games, the Oilers are now on a two-game winning streak, including an impressive 5-0 victory over the Washington Capitals on Friday (Nov. 24). Edmonton has won consecutive games by at least five goals for the first time since 2013.
Against Anaheim, Edmonton captain Connor McDavid led his squad with one goal and four assists, while Zach Hyman had two goals and a helper, and Darnell Nurse chipped in with three assists. The Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm, James Hamblin, Evander Kane, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all scored.
With two goals, Anaheim forward Max Jones was the only Ducks player to put a puck behind Stuart Skinner. The Oilers netminder made 21 saves to win for the fifth time in his last seven starts.
Following a disastrous 2-9-1 start to the season, the Oilers are now 5-3-0 since Nov. 10 and have pulled within six points of the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card playoff spot in the NHL’s Western Conference. Here are four takeaways from Sunday’s tilt:
Oilers Laugh Last
Edmonton is proving that it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. Sunday’s game was the second time in their last three games at Rogers Place that the Oilers rallied to win despite not scoring first. Meanwhile, they twice lost last week on the road after taking a 2-0 first-period lead.
Jones gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead just 3:32 into the game Sunday. Then after Kane tied the game at 4:36 of the first period, Jones scored again at 6:10 to restore the visitor’s lead. McDavid quickly responded with a goal at 9:29 to even the score at 2-2, and Nugent-Hopkins put Edmonton ahead to stay with 7:33 remaining in the first period.
It’s encouraging not only that the Oilers scored next both times they surrendered a goal, but how quickly they answered back. Edmonton’s inability to stem the tide is what doomed the Oilers during their three-game slide: In a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 18, they gave up three goals in less than 10 minutes to watch a one-goal lead evaporate into a two-goal loss. In a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers last Monday (Nov. 20), the Oilers watched the Panthers score three unanswered goals to snatch victory. And in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday (Nov. 22), Edmonton gave up four straight goals over a span of 5:31 in the first period and never recovered.
McDavid Returns to Form
Judging by recent events, it might be safe to say that McDavid is back. Including his four assists against Washington on Friday, the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner has nine points combined over Edmonton’s two-game win streak. He’s only the third player in franchise history (joining Hall-of-Famers Jari Kurri and Wayne Gretzky) to record at least four assists in back-to-back games, and the first to do it since Kurri in November 1988, 35 years ago.
Related: Oilers’ Victory Over Capitals May Signal Turning Point for McDavid
All this comes following McDavid’s emotional moment on the bench as he watched his team go down to defeat to Carolina on Wednesday. If it was that crushing loss that pushed McDavid over the edge, then the rest of the league is in trouble.
After having the worst five-game offensive output of his career, with just one point over a 1-4-0 stretch for the Oilers between Nov. 2 and Nov. 11, McDavid has five goals and 10 assists in the last seven games. For the season, he’s now got 25 points, more than a third of which have come in the last two games, and nearly half of which have come over the last four games.
Hyman is Riding High
Overshadowed by McDavid’s outburst is the continued brilliant play of Hyman, who is now tied for 11th in the entire NHL with a team-leading 12 goals this season. The 31-year-old winger is on pace for 49 goals in 2023-24, and is already one-third of the way to matching his career-high 36 goals that he scored last season.
Hyman has scored eight times in Edmonton’s last eight games, giving him the most goals in the NHL since Nov. 11. He’s also got a plus/minus rating of plus-5 over that span, tied for the team lead.
Don’t Forget About Darnell
One of the other players with a plus-5 rating over the last eight games for the Oilers is the oft-criticized Nurse, who deserves special mention for his efforts on Sunday.
In addition to his three assists, Nurse registered a rating of plus-3 and had three shots on goal. That’s the third time in his career he’s had at least three in those three categories, second most among blueliners in franchise history (Hall-of-Famer Paul Coffey did it eight times). He also blocked five shots on Sunday, which is as many as Edmonton’s other five defencemen combined.
While it’s fair to call out Nurse for his mistakes, which happen far too often for a player of his experience and compensation, his effort and dedication can’t be questioned.
Golden Knights Up Next
The Oilers will go for a fourth consecutive home win when they host the defending Stanley Cup champions – and the team that knocked Edmonton out of the playoffs in 2023 – Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (Nov. 28). That game will be Hockey Fights Cancer Night at Rogers Place.