Breadcrumb Trail Links
Published Jan 09, 2024 • Last updated 32 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) scores on Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Chicago. Photo by Erin Hooley /AP Photo
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At some point during the unexpected drama Tuesday in Chicago, you could half imagine the Edmonton Oilers parents scolding them for playing with their food.
Gutted by injury and slumping badly, the 31st-place Blackhawks were supposed to be an easy feast for a hard-charging Oilers team looking for its eighth win in a row.
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Sure, Chicago just beat the Flames on Sunday but, no offence, that’s Calgary. There’s no way a Hawks team that didn’t have Connor Bedard and seven other regulars, and is 3-10-1 since Dec. 10, had any business pushing the Oilers (15-3 since Nov. 24) to the brink.
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But they made it their business. And the only thing the Oilers ate on this night was their finger nails as what was supposed to be a foregone conclusion went down to the final wild seconds of the third period, where the Oilers hung on for a 2-1 win.
“We were just good enough to get the win, it definitely wasn’t our best game, it wasn’t a Picasso by any means,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
“But sometimes you have to gut those out. We’ve certainly lost games I felt we should have won. We know we have to be better than that. We’ll take the two points and move on.”
It didn’t help Edmonton’s cause that they had two goals disallowed. The first one came off the board after an iffy call for goaltender interference in the second period that wasn’t challenged and the other was for offside, a razor-thin call in the third period that went Chicago’s way.
But there are no excuses for this one. Chicago worked harder (outshooting Edmonton 26-15) and probably deserved a better fate.
“We had a couple of calls that didn’t go our way but we did a good job of staying in it,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “We kind of just found a way tonight. (The Hawks) are obviously banged up with a young, excited lineup and sometimes those are the toughest games to play. I thought they played really well.”
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But the Oilers won when they didn’t play that well, which is a very good sign, and are now on their second eight-game winning streak in less than a month.
“You just get into a rhythm and you find ways to win games,” said McDavid. “Tonight was not our best but we found a way. It’s a rhythm, a feeling in the room, and it feels good to put them together. We need to after our start.”
Defenceman Brett Kulak can sense it, too.
“When we’re feeling our game like we are now, it feels like we can’t lose,” he said. “We’re kind of in that space now and you want to hang onto that and enjoy it and stack up the wins.”
SKELETON CREW
The Oilers weren’t playing the Hawks so much as they were playing a bunch of unknown dudes wearing Hawks uniforms. Chicago had a whopping eight players out of the lineup, including Bedard, Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, Seth Jones, Tyler Johnson, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Beauvillier.
Chicago set the tone six minutes in, though, making it 1-0 and putting Edmonton behind in a game for the first time in 12 periods.
“It’s a good test of patience,” said Kulak. “We could easily sit here in each intermission thinking ‘We should be smoking these guys by five goals,’ but we just kind of stuck to our process.
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“We stayed the course, didn’t get too out of control mentally and played our game throughout.”
SHOCKER, LEON SCORES
Leon Draisaitl wasted little time in sticking it to one of his favourite targets. He made it eight-straight games with a goal against Chicago by tying it 1-1 in the first period. It also gives him seven goals in the last nine games.
It’s been a tale of two streaks for Draisaitl this year. He whimpered out of the gate, scoring just six goals in his first 18 games (four of them in the first three games). But he’s been back to his old self lately with 13 goals in the last 19 games.
CONNOR AN ALL-TIMER
Connor McDavid didn’t wait long to join the fun. He took a brilliant stretch pass from Mattias Ekholm and scored on a breakaway at 1:32 of the second period for his 905th career point. He is one point behind Glenn Anderson, who sits fourth on the Oilers all-time scoring list behind Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago that he was in junior hockey,” said Knoblauch. “For him to rack up that many points in that time is pretty remarkable.”
With Kurri (1,043) and Messier (1,034) well within striking distance, McDavid will be second all-time by the middle of next season. It would take a while to catch Gretzky at 1669.
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SKINNER A WINNER
Stuart Skinner continues to turn in solid night after solid night as he returns to All-Star form with his 13th in the last 15 games. He didn’t face a lot of work thanks to Edmonton’s stronger defensive foundation — the Oilers have only given up eight goals against in the last six games — but he had to come up big on some premium scoring opportunities.
Chicago did everything it could to pull off another upset, outshooting Edmonton 12-3 in the third period, but they couldn’t solve Edmonton’s last line of defence.
“I thought Skins was outstanding,” said Knoblauch. “He really saved us, especially late in the game.”
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