Do I smell a bit of confidence in the air? Or is that just a spritz of facade?
Regardless, the Edmonton Oilers are on a roll as they have defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 to win their fourth straight game.
For most of the contest, it appeared that Connor Hellebuyck was going to goalie the Oilers yet again as the Jets held a 1-0 lead into the final half of the third period. But at 13:11 of the final frame, Darnell Nurse broke the shutout and tied the game at 1.
Following that, Leon Draisaitl scored a late powerplay goal, that would turn out to be the game winner, and we finally got to see the marvelous toothless grin of Ryan McLeod as he broke a 37 game (regular season and playoffs) goalless drought. An empty net goal to seal the game may have been just what was needed for the snakebitten centre as he also picked up an assist on Nurse’s goal.
McLeod finally breaking his slump represents the way things have started going for the Oilers. Edmonton spent most of the first quarter of the season entirely down on their luck and in poor fortunes as they struggled mightily. But back in the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes five games ago, signs of life started.
The team dominated the entirety of that final period against the Hurricanes and have carried it over through their current four game winning streak. In this, they have found their offence, including contributions from depth players like McLeod, Vincent Desharnais, and James Hamblin, Connor McDavid and Draisaitl are getting back into the form we all know and love, and the Swiss cheese defence and goaltending that was giving up far too many quality chances and goals had started to settle down.
As the Oilers now sit just three points shy of a wild card spot, playoff hopes might start to rise up once again. But they cannot take the foot off the gas pedal for a long while if they want to make up for the disastrous start to the 2023–24 season.
