The red-hot Edmonton Oilers welcomed the Toronto Maple Leafs to town in a highly anticipated bout, and it lived up to the hype. Ultimately, it was the Oilers who walked away with a 4-2 victory, though fans tuning into this game are well aware of how close the Oilers were to seeing their lengthy winning streak come to an end.
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With the win, the Oilers have now won 11 straight, and 19 of their last 22. This group is firing on all cylinders right now, and are a must watch team every single night they are in action. Here are the three main takeaways from this thrilling matchup.
While the Oilers played a solid team game in this one, they could have been down and out early if it weren’t for Stuart Skinner. The Oilers netminder was locked in early and made several big saves while the rest of his team appeared sleepy. They were able to pick things up shortly afterward, but had their goalie to thank for the fact that the game wasn’t already out of reach.
Though his best work came early in this one, Skinner was fantastic all night, making several highlight reel stops. By the time the final horn sounded, he had kicked aside 26 of the 28 shots he faced. After an ugly start to the season, he now owns a 2.63 goals against average (GAA) paired with a .903 save percentage (SV%) through 29 appearances.
Oilers Show Great Resiliency to Come Back Against Maple Leafs
This game looked like it could be a dud from the Oilers early on, as they found themselves down 1-0 less than 30 seconds in on a goal off the stick of Auston Matthews. They could have been down by a few more minutes afterward if it hadn’t been for the brilliance of Skinner.
After an ugly first five minutes, the Oilers quickly woke up and dominated the rest of the first period. Despite that, they still trailed 1-0 at the first intermission, and ended up going down 2-0 at a point in the second. Instead of folding over as they would have a few months ago, they were able to battle all the way back to pick up a massive two points.
Third Place in Sight for the Oilers
With tonight’s win, the Oilers are back in the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, and are now just a point shy of the LA Kings for third in the Pacific Division with a game in hand. It is a remarkable turnaround given that they had a 5-12-1 record through their first 18 games of the season. Now, through 40, they sit at 24-15-1.
While they won’t want to look too far ahead, the Oilers aren’t so far back of second place, either, as they are just six points shy of the Vegas Golden Knights with four games in hand. It goes to show just how dominant of a team the Oilers are when playing at their best.
Looking Ahead for the Oilers
The Oilers will be looking to make it 12 straight on home ice Thursday against a Seattle Kraken team who recently just saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end. Much like the Oilers, they have quickly recovered after a rough start to the season. The next and final game of the week will be another thriller, as the Oilers will take on the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Should they win both, they may very well sit third in the Pacific by the end of the week.
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