Edmonton Oilers humble Flames, keep on rolling without McDavid

It’s only two games, but the Edmonton Oilers look every bit as good without Connor McDavid as they did with him.

One game after trouncing the Nashville Predators 5-1 on the strength of Leon Draisaitl’s epic show of force, the Oilers rolled into Calgary without their captain Sunday night and beat the Flames in their own building.

They were up 2-0 before the Flames even had their second shot on net and when the Flames made a brief comeback attempt, Edmonton put them back in their place in a hurry, scoring two third period goals to post a 4-2 decision.

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“There has been, collectively, an effort from guys to step up in his absence,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “It’s nice to see. It’s a collective effort to fill that void.

“Hopefully when the time comes and he’s back in the lineup these guys are full-throttle ahead and we don’t look back.”

The Oilers are now 2-0 without McDavid and 6-2-1 since their season-opening three-game losing streak, dispelling any notion that they are lost without their best player.

“When our backs are against the wall or we face some sort of adversity we came back stronger, come out better,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner. “That’s the kind of group we have in here. You have a crew here that isn’t willing to give up.”

Draisaitl was all-world again in Calgary with his second three-point night in as many games. On top of that, Jeff Skinner scored his third of the season, Zach Hyman scored his second goal in two games without McDavid and Mattias Janmark closed the show with an empty netter.

“Whenever you lose the best player in the world your team takes a hit,” said Hyman. “But collectively we’ve all done a little bit better.”

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One again, Draisaitl set the tone early. And late.

After setting up Viktor Arvidsson’s goal 37 seconds into the Predators game, Draisaitl one-upped himself against Calgary, scoring just 20 seconds after the opening faceoff to make it 1-0 Oilers.

He also assisted on the Hyman game winner and the Janmark empty netter to seal it, giving him three goals and three assists in his last two games and a team-leading 15 points on the season.

“Leon has definitely been our leader,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “You look at these two games, Nashville and here, he’s really stepped up his game. In Nashville he was the best player on the ice and tonight I believe he was the best player on the ice.

“You need people stepping up and you need your best players to be your best players most nights and so far he has. I can’t say enough about what he’s providing our team.”

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The penalty kill remains an issue as the Oilers try and regroup their PK following some key off-season departures. Calgary’s first goal of the night marked the ninth time in 12 games that the Oilers had to fish at least one power play goal out of their own net. Thirteen power play goals against in 12 games (33 chances) is a costly leak that they can’t seem to fix.

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Credit where it’s due, though. With the score 3-2 Oilers and Calgary on a power play late in the third period Edmonton got the snuff it needed to preserve the win.

Some teams find a way to win and some find a way to lose. Sunday night was Calgary doing the latter.

Yegor Sharangovich’s wrist shot from the point eluded Stuart Skinner to tie the game 2-2 and the Flames had momentum on their side down the stretch. It looked like their comeback was inevitable. Right up until Martin Pospisil got the stick up on Mattias Ekholm deep in the offensive zone.

Sure enough, Hyman scored on the power play at 10:10 and the Oilers were back in control.

Then, with 2:18 to go, a bench minor for too many men sealed their fate.

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