After a cozy 4–2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, the Edmonton Oilers moved on to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche last night. Colorado has breezed through the regular season to this point, comfortably leading in the President’s Trophy race. Meanwhile, the Oilers are scratching and clawing to maintain sturdy playoff position, and maybe sneak into the Pacific Division lead.
The last time these two teams met was where the turbulence of the 2025–26 season truly began. The Oilers’ starting goaltender on that night entered play having been at a .900 save percentage for a full week. Four months later, both he, and the backup who replaced him that night, are elsewhere. The roster upheaval has been significant everywhere for the Oilers since. Yet, Edmonton is somehow still in playoff position despite all that. This would be the toughest game of the road trip, though, and the Avs would give the Oilers their greatest pressure test possible.
Unlike that fateful 9–1 rout, the Oilers showed up to work in this one. They didn’t let an ‘Av sneak behind three guys standing in a perfect line. This Oilers team battled like they hadn’t battled all season, and any time Colorado pushed back, the resistance was robust. The Oilers overcame adversity in spades on this night, and after getting a third-period lead, they hung on for the rarest of rareties: a regulation win at Ball Arena.
Oilers win 4–3.
Folks, Stan Bowman may have cooked at the trade deadline. Either that, or the players have gotten their proverbial crap together and are playing like they mean it. Here’s the game story.
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The special teams units (and the Nuge) came up huge in this game
Since the arrivals of Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, the Oilers’ penalty kill has stabilized. Against Carolina and Vegas, the unit started to appear more sturdy, and confident. Couple that with a power play that is just simply the “”Oilers Power Play because it needs no introduction, and what was previously killing the Oilers’ chances to win is all of a sudden giving them a boost.
The only blemish on this night for the penalty kill was a Martin Necas tally in the first period. Even that, however, saw the Av’s power play wind down to 37 seconds remaining before they finally cashed in.
The penalty kill unit came up with critical kills to make sure Colorado couldn’t turn the momentum in their favour. They in turn got rewarded by the Oilers’ power play. Though the Oilers lost a chance to pad a 3–2 lead with four minutes of power play time, the man advantage helped them get the lead in the first place. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied the game at one by being the Connor McDavid on this rush up the ice, and burying a feed from McDavid himself.
Nugent-Hopkins was also responsible for giving the Oilers said 3–2 lead in the second period. There are these random games where Nugent-Hopkins reminds you why he was drafted first overall by scoring multiple really good goals in a game. Tonight just so happened to be one of those nights.
After Colorado tied the game at three in the third, another power play opportunity arose. This time, Nugent-Hopkins got to be an observer, like we all were, to more “McDrai” magic. Look at this sequence between McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard. Are you not entertained?!
Clutch special-teams performances. Fantastic game from Nuge’, and others. Awesome performance all around.
Dach, Emberson, and Ingram all go down with injuries
The injuries; oof, they were numerous in this one. Colton Dach was the first to go, as less than ten minutes into the contest, he was spotted labouring on the bench. Given the heavy brand of hockey he plays, this is always a risk. But it also stings more to lose such a menacing presence like that.
Ty Emberson allegedly got hurt even before Dach did, but gutted it out for the rest of the first period. He did not return for the start of the second period, however, and was eventually also ruled out. 40 minutes of an 11-forward and five-defenceman lineup. Dandy.
Towards the end of that second period came the most significant injury. Darnell Nurse, he of several recent own-goals, attempted to defend against an on-rushing Nathan MacKinnon. To be fair to Nurse, nobody has an easy time trying to defend Nathan MacKinnon. What happened next was a collision between MacKinnon and goaltender Connor Ingram, who would have to leave the game with a significant cut on his head. Whether you feel MacKinnon could have made more of an effort to avoid the crease area, or Nurse caused this by not allowing MacKinnon to dodge the crease, is up to you to determine.
Another pundit summed it up perfectly. This has to be one of the only instances in franchise history the Oilers lost each of a forward, defenceman, and goalie to injury in the same game. Somehow, they persevered and got the win. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that nothing will be known until sometime today about the status of all three players.
Jarry, in relief, offered some hope that things are turning around
Following that incident in the Oilers crease, Tristan Jarry had the unenviable task of coming in cold to this game. For 21 minutes, he was tasked with helping shut down the Avs, and get Edmonton the win. Given his recent play, probably a lot of people were behinds-clenched like it was a ride on the old Mindbender rollercoaster at Galaxyland.
This ended up being the night where first-three-games Jarry returned to the forefront. He faced two four-on-four shots before the end of the second period, and earned praise from former Boston Bruins Goaltender Tuukka Rask on the TNT Sports intermission panel for how he handled the situation. And then in the third period, he carried on with that good play, only allowing a tying goal from Valeri Nichushkin. Otherwise, the door was slammed shut.
If there was ever a single “most ideal” game for Jarry to post a .917 save percentage, it was this one. You read that correctly, .917, and he looked confident in registering that. May this be the start of a turnaround, and a hot streak, for Jarry.
Are the Oilers rounding into form overall at the best possible time?
With this win, the Oilers are back in a familiar spot: second place in the Pacific Division. However, for the umpteenth time this season, they’ve reeled in Vegas, who dropped a 2–1 decision in Dallas. If Sunday night’s game is to be used as the barometer here, this might actually be the time the Oilers firmly pull ahead of the Golden Knights in the Pacific Division standings.
The Oilers still aren’t perfect defensively, but after allowing four or more goals in a game on a nightly basis before this roadie, they’ve allowed less than four in consecutive games. That is all the defence needs to do, given the Oilers have been rolling offensively post-Olympic break. Right now, these are looking like the two-time-defending Western Conference champions we’re accustomed to seeing.
The quest to retake the Pacific Division lead is officially back on. Edmonton does not face the division-leading Anaheim Ducks again until March 28, so in the meantime, it’s on to taking care of business in a back-to-back against the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues. Win both of those, and we’re truly back in business.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
