The Edmonton Oilers rallied to defeat the host Winnipeg Jets by a score of 4-3 at Canada Life Centre on Thursday (Jan. 8) night.
Related: Oilers Complete the Comeback to Defeat Jets 4-3
Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid and Vasily Podkolzin scored for the Oilers, who trailed 3-1 after the first period. Winnipeg got goals from Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey, and Tanner Pearson.
Edmonton netminder Calvin Pickard made 13 saves in a winning effort, while Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced.
With the victory, Edmonton now has a record of 22-16-6. The Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights are tied atop the Pacific Division standings with 50 points each.
Oilers Flip the Script
Things didn’t start well for the Oilers, as Connor staked Winnipeg to a 1-0 lead when he put the puck past Pickard at 11:11 of the first period.
Edmonton then pulled even thanks to Podkolzin’s goal at 17:02, but Pearson and Morrissey replied with goals just 40 seconds apart, at 18:16 and 18:56, to send Winnipeg into the intermission ahead by two.
The Oilers clawed back, however, with McDavid scoring late in the second period to cut Winnipeg’s advantage to 3-2, before Hyman and Bouchard both tallied in the third period.
This marked just the second time this season that the Oilers have won when trailing going into the second period, and only the third time in 2025-26 that they’ve been victorious when trailing entering the third period. Before Thursday, the Oilers this season hadn’t come away with two points from a game in which they’d trailed after both the first and second period.
Even more incredibly, Thursday ended a streak of 21 straight games involving Edmonton in which the team that opened the scoring went on to win the game.
The Good and Bad of Bouchard
The Evan Bouchard Experience was on full display during an Edmonton power-play with the score tied 3-3 in the third period.
Bouchard began the man advantage by turning the puck over twice in the span of about 20 seconds. But then he made a tremendous play that prevented a sure goal from Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry before following Edmonton’s breakout up ice and taking a pass in the slot where he wired the puck past Hellebuyck to give his team the lead.
When it comes to Bouchard, you take the good with the bad and hope to heck the former outweighs the latter. That certainly was the case on Thursday, as Bouchard was credited with the 14th game-winning goal of his career, which ranks as second-most all-time by an Oilers defenceman.
Frederic Fight Sparks Oilers
With his team trailing 3-1 late in the second period on Thursday, Oilers forward Trent Frederic dropped the gloves with Logan Stanley after the towering Jets blueliner took some liberties with McDavid.
Frederic, who gives up about four inches to the 6-foot-7 Stanley, certainly didn’t get the better of the fight, but his courageousness seemed to spark the Oilers: Just over two minutes after the scrap, McDavid scored, beginning Edmonton’s comeback.
“Fighting, as much as people want to phase it out of the game, there’s an element to it that can help turn the team game around,” Hyman said following the game. “(Frederic) sticking up for (McDavid), fighting a big man, people will say that’s coincidence that we score a couple shifts later, but I think there’s something to that, and (Frederic)’s done it a couple times now, so good on (Frederic).”
The Oilers are now 7-2-1 in games that they have a fight this season, including 3-0-0 when Frederic drops the gloves. Two of the three games that Edmonton has won when trailing after two periods have featured a Frederic fight.
Frederic spent nearly as many minutes in the penalty box as on the ice at Canada Life Centre, as he played a team-low 6:47. Even so, the beleaguered forward, who has come under heavy criticism for not providing Edmonton with more of a physical presence, had a greater impact on Thursday than in the majority of his games as an Oiler.
The Oilers are back in action on Saturday (Jan. 10) night, when Edmonton hosts the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place.
