Oilers getting it done the hard way
When it all comes ANAHEIM, CALIF. out in the wash, you can rinse and repeat.
After two straight last-minute dirty endings, the Edmonton Oilers still come out smelling like a rose.
In Los Angeles on Saturday, they let Dustin Brown score twice in the dying seconds, but caught a break with a rare coach’s challenge win to wipe out what would have been the tying goal with 10 clicks left on the clock.
And on Sunday in Anaheim, they let Rickard Rakell score twice with 21 and 6.6 seconds remaining to tie it 5-5 — couldn’t find a reason to challenge — only to win 6-5 in a shootout with Connor McDavid beating Ryan Miller for the margin of victory.
So the walls keep closing in on the Oilers, but they don’t completely crush them — and for two consecutive days, the Oilers traded players and yet won games.
Brandon Davidson went Saturday morning to the New York Islanders while Mark Letestu was jettisoned on Sunday morning to the Nashville Predators, who flipped him to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The third shoe figures to drop Monday before the 1 p.m. deadline when winger Patrick Maroon is dealt after he was a healthy scratch against the Ducks.
“He skated in the warm-up,” head coach Todd McLellan said. “But we pulled him out.”
Maroon walked out of Honda Center on one sore leg in his final night as an Oiler, while Zack Kassian, who probably isn’t going anywhere, limped on another bad one after being spilled by Adam Henrique after six shifts and was done for the night.
It was a game in which Rakell got nine of the Ducks’ 46 shots on Al Montoya and McDavid had seven of the Oilers’ 42 on Ryan Miller, with two of them coming in overtime, setting the stage for his heroics in the shootout.
They got wins in L.A. and Anaheim on the heels of a victory at home against Colorado.
“Like to see a little more poise,” McLellan said in a wild understatement.
“I guess history can repeat itself,” Ryan Strome said. “We’ll take the win and move on to San Jose.
“We don’t make it easy on ourselves, but it was a gritty win and we’ve got some great players making great plays — cliche, cliche, cliche.”
“Those are learning moments for our team — learning the hard way, but we’re coming out on the winning end,” McLellan said.
“The players are competing, and when you lose players at the trade deadline, it’s part of the business, but we put ourselves in this situation.”
McDavid had three assists to go with his shootout winner. Strome had two goals to give him five in the last five games after being blanked for two months. Leon Draisaitl scored early and set up Strome, and has 17 points in February.
McDavid was robbed twice by Miller in overtime, but scored easily in the shootout, going against his usual modus operandi and circling wide, slowly, like so many other NHLers rather than bolting up ice on the shootout.
“In the shootout, I’ve been watching other guys in their tries and it (circling at half-speed) seems to be a common theme, coming in slow,” he said.
He doesn’t want to hear any spoiler-alert talk, but has no choice.
“When you’re not in the hunt anymore, you have to find ways to get yourself motivated and our last two have been two of our best in a long time,” he said.
Especially Strome, who went from Dec. 27 to Feb. 17 without a goal.
“When you’re on a roll, hockey ’s fun. You like coming to the rink,” Strome said.
“When you’re cold like he was for a long time and find a way to get one, your confidence skyrockets,” McDavid said. “He’s found a way to ride that wave.”
McDavid hates winning when he’s losing players, though.
“It’s really not fun. These are guys you have personal relationships with. The fans really like to see the trades, but you become close to your teammates and when they go, that’s upsetting,” he said.