Make it five wins in their last six games for head coach Kris Knoblauch and the Edmonton Oilers, who continued their recent surge with a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place on Saturday (Dec. 7).
The home team never trailed, getting goals from Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid, Corey Perry and Troy Stetcher, while Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours scored for St. Louis. Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner made 29 saves, outduelling Blues netminder Jordan Binnington, who stopped 17 of 21 shots faced.
For more reasons than one, the game may have been just a bit personal for the Oilers. Here are five takeaways from perhaps Edmonton’s sweetest win of the season:
Skinner Gets Better of Binnington
On Wednesday (Dec. 4), Team Canada announced its roster for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, snubbing a few Oilers who were hoping to make the cut.
Skinner was one of them. Edmonton’s No. 1 netminder got passed over in favour of Las Vegas Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill, Montreal Canadiens starter Sam Montembault, and the Blues’ Binnington.
If Team Canada general manager Don Sweeney, associate general manager Jim Nill and head coach Jon Cooper had a chance to catch any of the action from Edmonton on Saturday night, they might be re-thinking their decision.
Skinner was the far superior goaltender on the Rogers Place ice, and Oilers fans let as much be known, chanting “Skinner’s better” towards the end of the game.
While he struggled to start 2024-25, Skinner has played significantly better of late, going 3-1-0 with a save percentage (SV%) of .945 and goals against average (GAA) of 1.52 over his last four starts.
After outduelling Binnington, Skinner now has a slight edge this season over his Blues counterpart in goals against average (2.92 to 2.93) and wins (nine to eight). Binnington still has a better save percentage than Skinner (.897 to .892).
Hyman Is Heating Up
Hyman is another one of the Oilers who got snubbed by Team Canada. The Oilers winger has extra fuel to his fire, considering the news that he was left off the 4 Nations Face-Off roster coincided with his return to Edmonton’s lineup after missing two weeks with an undisclosed injury.
Related: Oilers’ Players Failed to Prove They Deserve Spot on Team Canada
In Edmonton’s two games since, Hyman has scored three goals, including a pair of game-winners. On Saturday, he gave the Oilers a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal at 14:37 of the third period, going to the net and tipping a pass from McDavid past Binnington.
Broberg and Holloway Return to Rogers
Saturday marked the first game back at Rogers Place for former Oilers players Holloway and Philip Broberg. The pair had an acrimonious departure from Edmonton during the offseason, each signing an offer sheet with St. Louis that the Oilers declined to match.
Both have played quite well with their new squad, particularly Holloway, who picked St. Louis up off the mat on Saturday, scoring early in the third period to cut Edmonton’s lead to 3-1. The goal was Holloway’s ninth of 2024-25, which is as many as he scored in 89 career regular season games as an Oiler and is tied for most on the Blues this season.
Edmonton wasn’t very welcoming to winger Holloway and blueliner Broberg, however. As expected, the fans booed both at first sight. Then McDavid got uncharacteristically feisty with Holloway, giving his former teammate a face-wash on one of their first shifts against each other. Later on, the Oilers captain capitalized on an unfortunate turnover by Broberg, pouncing on the loose puck in front of Binnington and firing it home to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead at 5:19 of the second. That led to the crowd serenading the ex-Oilers defenceman with a chorus of “Bro-berg”.
Much has been made about how Edmonton might have made a mistake in letting Holloway and Broberg go, but on this night, the Oilers had the last laugh.
Stetcher’s Redemption
Stetcher took an ill-advised cross-checking penalty at 11:57 of the third period and was in the box when Neighbours scored on the ensuing power play, at 13:09, to pull the resurgent Blues within one.
That might have been enough for some coaches to staple Stetcher to the bench for the rest of the game. But Knoblauch sent the 30-year-old rearguard right back over the boards, and Stetcher responded with a seeing-eye shot from along the half-wall that beat Binnington, restoring Edmonton’s two-goal lead at 14:18. It was Stetcher’s first goal since Nov. 11, 2023, when he was still a member of the Arizona Coyotes.
McDavid on the Move
With a goal and an assist against the Blues, McDavid now has 1,019 points in his career, tying Ryan Getzlaf for the 94th most in NHL history.
Since becoming the 99th NHL player to reach 1,000 regular season points last month, McDavid is making a rapid ascent up the all-time list. He’s now one point away from 93rd place (currently held by Dale Hunter) two back of 92nd (Rod Gilbert) and three out of 91st (Brian Bellows).
Saturday marked McDavid’s ninth time in the last 13 games recording at least two points. At that rate, he’ll be moving up a couple more spots when the Oilers play their next game, Tuesday (Dec. 10) at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
