Edmonton Oilers Pitchfork Devils 5-1

For the Edmonton Oilers, no moral victory tonight, but a real Win, and a convincing one at that, 5-1 over the New Jersey Devils. Whether or not we will be able to look back, in a few months, and say this was the turning point of the Oilers season we don’t know yet.

But with 3 out of a possible 4 points in their last two, is this team showing signs that it is finally ready to turn “North”? Perhaps.

9 Things:

9. The Power Play is a bit a concern again, all of a sudden. The Edmonton Oilers were just 1-for-6 with the man advantage, Friday night. And that is only because of a tenacious effort by Jordan Eberle on his goal. The PP’s success % is now below 20%. That’s a dangerous thing, as you head out on the road.

8. The line of Anton Lander, Lauri Korpikoski and Iiro Pakarinen was effective again tonight. While they did not hit the scoresheet (that’s 20 and counting without a point for Lander, now), they did enjoy a significant number of workman-like shifts where they battled along the boards for pucks and amassed value zone time.

7. The Playoffs. Huh? What? You read that right…the playoff! The Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Edmonton Oilers are currently just 6 points out of a playoff berth. Yes, you read that right. And about a dozen games are coming up against the Eastern Conference, clubs the Oilers typically have success against.

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6. Man, is Nail Yakupov ever snake-bitten. Yes, the fact that Connor McDavid is on I.R. is one of the reasons he has just a single point since #97 went down with an injury. But he IS getting chances, 4 shots again tonight, good for 2nd place on the team, including a sick set-up by Draisaitl that he couldn’t bury. Yak’s shot percentage is 4.2%!!

5. You know, the Edmonton Oilers all but suffocated their opposition tonight without the two defencemen Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan surely expected to lead the D-core in ice time this year. Justin Schultz is not quite back from a back injury yet, and Andrej Sekera was the latest victim of the flu. That’s encouraging (the play of the other guys…not the flu!).

4. Who? Who led the Edmonton Oilers in TOI Friday night?? Yup. Brandon Davidson, ringing in at 23:43, including 3 minutes short-handed and 4 and a half on the power play. That is a tremendous amount of specialty team play for a kid many thought would spend the majority of the year in Bakersfield. While I thought Oscar Klefbom was the club’s best all-around D-man, those minutes for Davidson speak volumes of the confidence Todd McLellan must have in him, right now.

3. Mark Letestu had an excellent game. His goal was perhaps not a thing of beauty, but you know what? It looks just the same on the stat sheet as the highlight reel goal by Leon Draisailt. And that’s all the matters. On Defence, Letestu was excellent, did a great job of closing gas & filling lanes all night long, and was 70% in the face-off circle. But he was also an important part of that massive PK, the 53-second 3-man advantage, holding the score at 2-1.

2. Anders Nilsson was perhaps not spectacular, tonight, but the absolute key was that he delivered timely saves….something the Edmonton Oilers have not had in abundance this season (o.k., almost not at all!). When Nilsson came across his crease and stoned Josefson on that 2-on-1 in the 2nd Period, he not only preserved the lead…he preserved the club’s momentum. It may have been the turning point of the game. Over-all, 19 saves out of 20 and an all-important “W” for his team.

1. Leon Draisaitl and Taylor Hall were spectacular, yet again Friday. And while I can’t begin to contain the joy I have in pointing out to the Taylor Hall haters (hello? Helloooo??) that #4 is 4th in NHL scoring with 24 points and playing the best hockey of this NHL career….Leon Draisaitl has been ever better, now 2nd on team scoring with 17 points in 10 games. Oh, yeah…that leads the NHL in points-per-game. This pair is dangerous each and every time they are on the ice. And when Draisaitl, the 1st Star Fiday night, gets up a head of steam, it’s like trying to stop a freight train. What players. What a pair. Who knew we would utter those words, this season, without the name Connor McDavid attached?

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This East Coast swing is huge, for this club. As improbably as it may seem, they could return from it in a playoff spot in the Pacific.

Dare to dream, Edmonton Oilers fans. Dare to dream.

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