The Edmonton Oilers wrapped up their road trip last night in ‘friendly Manitoba,’ although this back-and-forth, fight-filled thriller was anything but friendly. The Winnipeg Jets were on a bit of a slide heading into this game and were desperate to avoid dropping four straight for the second time in 2024.
The Jets dominated the first eight minutes of the game, outshooting the Oilers 9-3. Edmonton started to push back late in the first, though, and came out of the locker room in the second period looking like a new team. As we’ve seen many times this season, the Oilers made enough midgame adjustments to turn the tide in their favour. After Mason Appleton opened the scoring, they responded with three unanswered goals from Leon Draisaitl, Connor Brown, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to build a 3-1 lead.
The Jets wouldn’t go away easily, though. Midway through the third period, Brenden Dillon and Sean Monahan each scored on point shots through traffic, just one minute apart, to erase the deficit. Zach Hyman was ultimately the hero in overtime, scoring his 200th career goal and securing the win for the Oilers. Edmonton peppered Hellebuyck with over 40 shots for the second time in 2023-24 and won the season series 2-1 with a solid performance.
Perry and Nurse Went to Battle With Jets’ Heavyweights
After a lacklustre first eight minutes of the game for the Oilers, Corey Perry changed the momentum by challenging 6-foot-7 defenceman Logan Stanley to a fight. Perry, a braver man than most, held his own while taking a few blows from Stanley’s lunchbox-sized hands. From then on, Edmonton outshot the Jets 39-16, and Perry finished the game with a dominant expected goal share (xGF%) of 79.87. Since joining the Oilers, Perry has been everything they could’ve asked for and more. He’s played excellent defence, scored timely goals, and he dragged his team into the fight when they lacked energy early in this game.
Darnell Nurse got into a fight of his own midway through the second. He took exception to Dillon’s hit on Perry, which nearly sent him into the Winnipeg bench. Nurse had a decent tilt with Dillon and used his strength to score the takedown at the end. It’s always a good sign when teammates want to fight for each other. You don’t see as many in today’s game, but the Oilers showed a lot of emotion through these scraps, and they responded as a group by taking over the game from there.
The Floodgates Open for Brown
Brown has started to heat up after going completely scoreless in his first 54 games. With a second-period snipe in this game, he improved to three goals in his last six games. He has had several stretches this season when he generated chances but was utterly snake-bitten. Now that he has the monkey off his back, his confidence has returned. He’s looking a little bit closer to the version the Oilers thought they were getting when they signed him in the off-season.
Related: Oilers’ Brown Lacks Results Despite Strong Stretch of Games
Overall, this was one of Brown’s most impressive outings of the season; he finished with a 5-on-5 shot share of 89.32 and a team-leading 90.97 xGF%. If Edmonton can get this type of effort from their fourth-line players regularly, look out.
Oilers’ Penalty Kill Bounced Back
After a disastrous performance by the Oilers’ penalty kill on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, where they went 1 for 4, the Oilers bounced back, shutting down all five of the Jets’ power-play opportunities.
In what ended up being a very close game, the penalty killers showed up at critical moments; it was a huge reason why the Oilers won. In the second period, Brown took a double-minor for high sticking, and they didn’t concede a single shot on net during the four-minute penalty kill. In the final minutes of the third period, Dylan DeMelo accidentally high-sticked his teammate in the corner. The official assessed a two-minute minor to Nugent-Hopkins, thinking his stick struck the Jets player. The Oilers responded to the crucial blown call by killing off the penalty and eventually winning the game in overtime.
Oilers Host the LA Kings Next
The Oilers will return home to Rogers Place on Thursday night for the final matchup of the season against their division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. With these teams poised for a potential first-round playoff battle for the third consecutive season, it’s their last chance to send a message before they go to war. The Oilers lead the season series 2-1, defeating the Kings 4-2 in their most recent game on Feb. 26.
On-Ice Stats via Natural Stat Trick
