Edmonton Oilers dump Utah H.C., showing signs of last season's form

19 days ago

Edmonton Journal

Published Nov 29, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read

Connor McDavid #97 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins #93 of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal during the second period of a game against the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on November 29, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Photo by Alex Goodlett /Getty Images

In their first visit to Salt Lake City and the NHL’s newest home, the Edmonton Oilers thought they’d make themselves comfortable.

Oilers - Figure 1 — Photo Edmonton Journal

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They were a little shy at first, but once they got settled in in the second period they raided the fridge, took charge of the remote and started wandering around the place like they owned it.

The Team With No Name — Utah H.C. — made a brief effort to regain control of its own ice but to no avail, the Oilers scored in overtime, planted their flag and left for Denver.

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stripped the puck away from a Utah defender 1:18 into the extra period and scored just his third goal of the season to give Edmonton a 4-3 decision and a two-game win streak.

Maybe it was the rusty legs failing them after a five-day break in the schedule since their 6-2 win over the New York Rangers or maybe they just weren’t ready to go, but whatever it was it bit the Oilers hard in the first period. They managed just one shot in the last 15 minutes of the opening frame and were down 2-0 on goals from Alexander Kerfoot and Logan Cooley.

And, just like that, despite all the preparation and talk of picking up where they left off against the Rangers, the Oilers were in a hole and two of their best players — Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard — were each minus two in the first 17:15.

Oilers - Figure 3 — Photo Edmonton Journal

Then the Oilers woke up.

Vasily Podkolzin, after going 21 games without a goal, made it two in two games when he got Edmonton back in the game midway through the middle period. It was another nice shot, five-hole this time, to cut the Utah lead in half.

From there, the slumbering power play joined the fight and turned the tide in Edmonton’s favour with two goals in 2:21. Leon Draisaitl’s 17th and McDavid’s 12th gave Edmonton two power-play goals in one game for the first time this season.

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With a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes, the next item on Edmonton’s to-do list was to close out a close game in the third period. They’d lost three times this season and had to go to overtime to win another when trailing in the third period.

And… just 3:42 after the puck dropped it was 3-3. Bouchard and McDavid dropped to minus three on the night.

All’s well that ended well, however, and now the Oilers will try and make it three in a row Saturday in Denver.

The Oilers are still without Zach Hyman (third game in a row) and Viktor Arvidsson (seventh game in a row) and with back-to-back games on the road, they went with Calvin Pickard against Utah and saved Stuart Skinner for Saturday night in Colorado.

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