The Edmonton Oilers have rediscovered their scoring touch.
One game after scoring seven goals against Minnesota, the Oilers notched six in a 6-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday to extend their National Hockey League win streak to five games.
Star forward Leon Draisaitl led the way for Edmonton (18-10-2) with a goal and two assists.
The Oilers struggled to score early on in the year, but the goals have been coming a little easier at the moment.
“We created looks early on in the year, too — it just didn’t seem to go our way,” said Draisaitl, who has seven points in his last two outings. “With that being said, I think that everything is a little more clean right now and we are hitting the right spots at the right time.
“I like our game right now. I think we’re playing well and starting to find our roles a little bit and our rhythm a little bit better. Obviously we have some really good teams coming up here, so we are just looking to continue that.”
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, left, and Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Brayden McNabb fight for the puck during NHL action on Dec. 14, 2024, at Edmonton’s Rogers Place. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)It was Draisaitl’s fifth consecutive multi-point game, recording 13 points in that span. Draisaitl has had multi-point performances in seven of his last 11 games for a total of 16 multi-point games this season. Fifteen of those have come in his last 22 outings.
The Oilers, who have won eight of their last nine games, have won 39 consecutive home dates when Draisaitl has three or more points.
“It has been a slow build,” forward Connor Brown, who scored a goal in the win, said of the Oilers ramping up their offence.
“It’s tough to point to any specific game or play. I think our puck play has been really good and there is just a level of intensity and also poise with the puck. When we have a good combination of that we’re pretty deadly.”
‘Always pushing for more’
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said “there is a lot of instinct that goes into” a team’s success.
“You’re kind of just playing,” said Nurse, who had two assists. “That’s where our team is getting to. It’s also a group that always wants more.
“If you look back to last year we were never satisfied with our game, we are always pushing for more. That’s the mindset within our group — no matter how well we’re playing or how many points we’re putting together, there is always another level to get to.”
The victory by the Oilers, who return to NHL action on Monday night at home against the Florida Panthers (7 p.m.), halted a four-game winning streak by the Golden Knights (19-8-3), who are nonetheless 8-2-1 in their last 11 contests.
“I think we just got away from our game a little bit, in the first period we had success in the O-zone kind of playing heavy and creating a lot of offence from below the circle and below the goal line,” said Golden Knights defenceman Noah Hanifin, who had two assists.
“In the second period, we kind of got away from that a little bit and we kind of gave them a lot of their chances and fed their offence, which is something you can’t do to a team with that amount of skill.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton