The Blackhawks were without star forward Connor Bedard and names like Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Seth Jones, but battled hard all night and took the lead 5:52 in when Jason Dickinson turned an Oilers turnover into an early 1-0 Chicago lead.
“Obviously not our best, but give them credit,” McDavid said of Tuesday’s win over Chicago. “They worked, they clogged things up, they played a solid game. Stu held us in and I thought we did just enough to get a win.
“They’re obviously a banged-up, young lineup, excited lineup. Those are sometimes the toughest games to play. A little bit scrambly, a little bit all over the place.”
Draisaitl delivered his 19th goal of the season to tie the game later in the first period before Connor McDavid made it 2-1 on a breakaway in the middle frame that came off Mattias Ekholm’s 82-foot stretch pass from Edmonton’s zone.
McDavid extended his point streak to eight games, while Ekholm pulled to within two points of 300 with the primary helper. The Swede is +10 during the Edmonton’s current eight-game winning streak, while his blueline partner Evan Bouchard (9G, 30A) is one point shy of joining Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey as the second defenceman in franchise history to record 40 points in a season prior to their 40th game.
Zach Hyman couldn’t extend his goal streak to three games despite having one overturned in the third period after a lengthy review, but Skinner and the Edmonton defence preserved the one-goal win over the final frame despite a 21-7 shot advantage for Chicago.
Hyman is tied for fifth overall in the NHL with a team-leading 25 goals – including 21 in his last 24 games.