Oilers Takeaways: Clutch Kulak, Pickard propel second straight win
In a town where Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have dominated for years, it was Brett Kulak who notched his first career two-goal game and backup Calvin Pickard who starred in net as the Nashville Predators made the Oilers earn their 4-2 win on Thursday.
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It’s still not coming easily for the Edmonton Oilers, and the offence is not pouring in from the big boys. And that’s absolutely all right for a team that learned long ago that 20 players will carry you a lot further than five or six ever could.
In a town where Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have dominated for years, it was Brett Kulak who notched his first career two-goal game and backup Calvin Pickard who starred in net as the Nashville Predators made the Oilers earn their 4-2 win on Thursday.
The Oilers, who usually derive offence from their superstars and power play, got one goal from Connor McDavid but zilch from a power play that went 0-for-4.
Jeff Skinner got credit for a crease-crasher, and Kulak rifled one home from the point before his empty-netter sealed the first road win of the season. Suddenly, Edmonton has now won two straight.
“We kind of understand it’s not always going to go perfect,” explained Kulak. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to start the season. The first few games, we get so discouraged when it’s not going perfect.
“But tonight we just stuck with the game plan, chipped away, and found a way to get the puck in the back of the net.”
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It was calm hockey by Edmonton against a desperate Nashville team that now sits at 0-4 in the Central, anchored to the bottom of the division next to 0-4 Colorado.
The only flaw? An Oilers power play that falls to one-for-13 after going scoreless in four attempts at Bridgestone Arena. It’s still, as they say, a work in progress.
“Our top unit have had some good looks,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s only a matter of time before they’re putting pucks in the net.”
Winner Skinner
While Viktor Arvidsson awaits his first point as an Oiler, the other big free agent signing — Jeff Skinner — has found his groove already. He scored to extend his points streak to four games and has 2-2-4 on the season.
“He’s been really good in the last three games,” Knoblauch said. “Anytime a player comes to a new team, there’s always a transition period of getting used to his role and your systems. New coach, new message… But his last three games have been what we anticipated.
“Not only scoring two key goals the last couple games, but also really good on the walls, getting pucks out. We’re very happy with him.”
His goal in Nashville was a product of going to the net front and looking for some luck. He got it in a mad scramble, when the puck ended up behind Juuse Saros off one of his defencemen.
“Someone slid and put it in, and I was just the last guy to touch it,” smiled Skinner, who has found a home playing with centre Adam Henrique and Connor Brown. “I’ve felt better as it’s gone along. I think guys have done a great job off the ice to just kind of (make me) feel welcome right away. There are a lot of guys in here that have been together for a while and have some great chemistry. I’m sliding in to play off some of those guys. It’s going to be an adjustment.”
Kulak and Pickard
Teams always play hard for their backup goalie and love it when a depth defenceman like Kulak finds the back of the net. His season-high is six goals back in 2018-19, so Kulak may be able to take a run at a career-high, with two already under his belt this season.
“The bench was cheering for him to go for that third one, but he was a little cautious (about) getting out of position,” chuckled Knoblauch. “Anytime you see those role guys that don’t necessarily get on the score sheet as much as other guys, you know, everyone gets excited to see them have that success.”
The Oilers’ defence is finding its footing, with Troy Stecher playing another solid game next to Darnell Nurse (one assist, plus-1 and a fight with Mike McCarron) and Ty Emberson finding his way next to the veteran Kulak on the third pairing. They played 14:28 and 17:09, respectively.
“We played our game all the way through,” said Pickard, who was steady, making 25 saves. “They had a push at the end, we didn’t waiver, and we got the result we deserved.”
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A pair of deflections beat Pickard in what was by far his best work of the young season.
Oil Spills — Edmonton is now 12-1-2 in its last 15 against Preds, with a plus-29 goals differential … McDavid has a point in 15 straight games against Nashville … Nurse took on McCarron, fighting to a draw in the Oilers’ third scrap in the past two games. Nurse stepped up in defence of young Vasily Podkolzin … Zach Hyman, still pointless on the season, had a game-high five shots on net. He’s all around it but can’t find goal No. 1 of the season … Only two Oilers players did not register a shot on goal: Podkolzin and Perry, who was plus-2 and played his role to a tee again Thursday.
