3 Takeaways as the Oilers overpower Ducks 8-2

A look at some of the key points from Sunday night, as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Ducks 8-2 for their biggest win of the season to date.

Following on from Friday afternoon’s 5-0 win over the Capitals, the Oilers were aiming to carry this momentum into Sunday night’s game versus the Ducks. It’s safe to say they managed this, with a tremendous 8-2 win.

It helped that the Ducks entered the contest on a five-game losing streak, which had actually started with another 8-2 defeat, to the Avalanche. The Oilers happily repeated this trick, with their own scoring avalanche.

There’s very little to criticise aside from Stuart Skinner allowing a couple of soft early goals, although he tightened up after this. Let’s get to our three main takeaways from the game at Rogers Place:

1) The captain is back

There’s no denying Connor McDavid hasn’t been his usual self this season. However, this doesn’t excuse some of the grief he’s received from so-called fans, which has been nothing short of ridiculous.

The thing is though, even this subpar version of McDavid has still been one that everyone in the NHL would gladly accept on their team. Not that it matters anyone, as he is finally starting to look more like the generational superstar talent that he is.

The six-time All-Star was coming off a four-assist performance in Washington, D.C., which was the first game this season when he had more than two points. On Sunday night he produced another four assists, with a goal thrown in for good measure.

When McDavid is on form, there’s pretty much no stopping him or the team. His play galvanises the rest of the players, resulting in everyone working that little bit harder, with more focus and desire.

After the Ducks had taken an early 2-1 lead, this was when the 2015 first overall draft pick took over the game. He scored his goal with a nice wrist shot to make it 2-2 and then assisted on the next two Oilers goals for a 4-2 advantage going into the first intermission, and they never looked back.

With two more helpers, McDavid moved into third place in franchise history, with 39 three-plus assist games. Whether the speculation he had returned from injury too soon was true or not, all that matters now is that he is truly back.

Postgame, McDavid was asked if confidence contributed to his recent improvement, but in typical fashion he preferred to discuss the team as a whole. Speaking to the media, he said:

“Confidence is obviously a big part of it. I think our whole team is playing better and I think that’s why you’re starting to see guys have success. It’s not just a light switch one guy or two guys can just turn on. It takes a whole group and I think the group’s been playing better of late.”

2) Zach Hyman and Evander Kane in fine form

As per McDavid’s comments about the team needing to play well as a whole, the Oilers can’t just rely on him and Leon Draisaitl for points. In this respect, Zach Hyman and Evander Kane have certainly done their bit to contribute.

Against the Ducks, Hyman had two goals and an assist, while Kane added a goal and helper of his own. Each player brings different intangibles to the ice, but both are vitally important to the success of the Oilers.

For Hyman, his brace means he now leads the team with 12 goals, while having 22 overall points. This should come as no surprise after his career-year last season, when he set personal bests with 36 goals, 47 assists and 83 total points.

As for Kane, he’s come a long way from earlier in the season, when he had just one point in his first five games. There was concern that he still hadn’t recovered from the wrist injury which cost him a significant amount of last season.

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Since those first five games however, the 32-year-old has looked more like the player the Oilers saw prior to said wrist injury. In fact, you could go as far as to say he carried the team at points while McDavid and Draisaitl were struggling, in terms of his physical game, points production and in general.

Certainly when Kane puts it all together, you see glimpses of why he was selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft. With 18 points in his previous 15 games, he represents another player for opponents to fear.

As for Hyman, he’s not one to speak about himself, so it was up to his coach to discuss his leading the team in goals. Speaking postgame to the media, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said:

“Goals, no matter who you are — Ovechkin , Stamkos, Matthews — they’ve got an exceptional shot. And maybe he doesn’t have that natural scoring ability of shooting on the perimeter or outside the dots, but even as good as they are at scoring goals, it’s usually around the net. … Zach’s been going to the net and not getting tied up. He’s making sure he’s fighting for position, getting inside position, not allowing the defenceman to lift his stick, doing those kinds of things, and he’s been rewarded.”