The Edmonton Oilers had one of their most decisive victories of the season on Tuesday night, defeating the first place Utah Mammoth by a score of 6-3. This comes after the team has suffered back-to-back losses.
Although the Mammoth took an early 2-0 lead heading into the second period, two quick goals tied the game up. Although the Mammoth would take one more lead thanks to Barrett Hayton scoring his second of the year, that is the last time they would lead as Leon Draisaitl and Ty Emberson both scored within one minute of each other to give the Oil a 4-3 lead.
Then, the rest is history as captain Connor McDavid would pot the final two goals to put the game away and secure the victory for the Oilers.
The Oilers offence finally woke up
There is no denying that the Oilers have one of the most lethal offences in the game, boasting names like Draisaitl and McDavid, two established and consistent 100 point scorers. A team with those two players should rarely struggle to find the back of the net, especially at even strength.
In this game, they proved that it is possible as the team scored no goals on the man advantage, failing to convert on their one powerplay opportunity of the night.
On top of three total goals from their two big stars, they got contributions from top rookie and No. 2 ranked prospect, Ike Howard. As well as two defencemen in Emberson and Mattias Ekholm. This is the depth scoring that the Oilers need to have consistently if they are going to remain competitive.
The team cannot rely solely on their stars to score and tonight they showed they can do just that. If they can carry this momentum forward, it could be the start of a great run for the Oilers who have Stanley Cup aspirations.
The worries are not over yet
Despite the exciting and positive news of their depth scoring and McDavid being able to bury the puck, there are still some issues that the team needs to sharpen up in order to be as successful as they hope.
First, starting netminder Stuart Skinner, despite capturing the 'W' put together an .870 save percentage, stopping 20 of 23 shots he faced. According to moneypuck.com, he was also a -0.42 goals saved above expected on the night. The performance between the pipes will have to clean up if the Oilers have any hope of making a deep run into the post season.
Second, the Oilers were able to turn it around late but the quality chances tipped in favour of the Mammoth most of the night. This is to be expected with some score effects as well with their early leads but again, the Oilers cannot allow this to be the issue. Especially with the struggles they are having between the pipes.
This game had plenty of positive but the team still needs to work on things if they hope to return to the Stanley Cup finals for a third straight season and especially if they hope to win the elusive Stanley Cup championship.