Oilers play with maturity and patience, grab last win before Christmas break
The experienced team won this game — their 11th in 13 games — because they know how to win on nights like this.
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EDMONTON — A Christmas break about to begin, a string of wicked opponents in the rearview mirror, and two points rescued only the day before in a game the Edmonton Oilers were 18 seconds away from losing in regulation.
This Sunday nighter against Ottawa could have gone in any direction for the Oilers, with all those distractions and excuses at the ready, right?
Yeah, no…
“We’re professionals,” explained goalie Stuart Skinner, beaten only once as the Oilers threw a defensive gem at the Senators in a 3-1 win. “It’s our job to do that no matter what time of year it is. The way we played just shows the maturity level.”
Maturity was the buzzword in an uber-confident Oilers room these days, as they dispatch league leaders, bottom feeders and teams like Ottawa, who are trying to move from the latter to the former.
Other than a night by Evan Bouchard where the puck was a ticking bomb on the end of his stick, Edmonton simply rolled out a consistent, four-line game that forced the Senators to raise their level, likely beyond what they were able, on the final game of a four-game road trip with six straight wins under their belt.
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This was the old bull versus the young bull. A team that’s been through a lot in recent seasons against one that hopes that same experience awaits them, starting this playoff season.
“Maturity, resilience,” began head coach Kris Knoblauch, who got as good a game from his bottom-six forwards as any coach could ask for. “You know, they went through a lot … last year, and they’re able to handle the ups and downs. Whether it’s the referee making a bad call, the other team making a strong push, getting a timely goal…
“You look at how these last three games have gone — they’ve gone completely different,” he said. “Our team just shows so much maturity and patience to our game.”
On Thursday, Edmonton trailed Boston 2-0 before grinding out a game that was tied up by Connor McDavid in the 57th minute, then won in OT. Two days later, San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov put on a three-ring circus in the Sharks’ crease, but Mattias Ekholm tied the game with the goalie pulled and just 17.3 seconds to play. Leon Draisaitl won the game in OT.
Then, in the back-to-back against a tired Senators team, Edmonton simply grinded out win No. 3 in four days. It was there for Ottawa, but they would have had to push that much harder and find that much more juice.
The experienced team won this game — their 11th in 13 games — because they know how to win on nights like this.
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“We learned a lot from last year,” Knoblauch said, “but even prior to that, the playoffs runs they had, heartbreaking losses, winning streaks, whatever it is. We’ve got a lot of games played in that room, so they’ve got a lot of experience, and all that experience helps. Mostly in handling adversity.”
Ottawa lost goalie Linus Ullmark after 20 minutes to an upper-body injury, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (ill) did not play for Edmonton. Ironically, it was the Oilers’ power play that looked sick without Nugent-Hopkins, who is one of those players you don’t truly appreciate until you see what your team looks like without him in the lineup.
Viktor Arvidsson stepped into RNH’s spot and scored on a handsome feed from McDavid, while Adam Henrique scored the all-important 3-1 goal from linemates Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown just 1:38 into the third period.
Darnell Nurse played a near-perfect 24:17, giving up almost nothing, while Zach Hyman scored in his sixth straight game. He has 10 goals in nine games since returning from injury.
“I like our resilience,” Hyman said post-game. “The past couple of games, we were down going into the third and in this one, we were up and playing with the lead, and I thought we did a really good job defending the lead and not giving them much. I think we’re pretty confident in kind of giving up a little bit of offence to take away their offence and taking whatever is given.”
It’s the season for giving, sure. But stingy was better.
OIL SPILLS — Edmonton is now 14-2-1 in its last 17 against the Sens, while McDavid and Draisaitl each carry nine-game points streaks into Christmas.
