A CAPITAL CLOBBERING
Coach praises ‘complete team game’ as 15 players register at least a point
Oilers centre Connor McDavid keeps his eye on the puck past the Senators’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau during the Oilers’ 7-2 win in Ottawa on Thursday night. McDavid chalked up another two assists. More Oilers coverage.
OTTAWA Here come the Oilers.
A team slogan that found more use as a sarcastic punchline delivered after their inevitable pratfalls is starting to sound like a real threat.
They’ve been running wild since the all-star break, scoring, winning, fighting and starting to finally show signs of the team Edmonton has been dreaming about for nine years.
It’s been only two games, against a couple of relatively soft touches, but there’s an unmistakable difference in these perennial lottery winners since Connor McDavid returned.
He upped his total to five points in two games since returning from his broken collarbone, setting up Jordan Eberle for a pair of first-period goals Thursday in Ottawa as the Oilers humiliated the Senators 7-2.
“That’s a good win for us, a complete team game,” said head coach Todd McLellan, who had the luxury of limiting McDavid to 13 minutes in the blowout. “He’d normally get about six or seven more, but he was dynamic, he had great speed, some poise and deception on the power play. He’s a gifted player, he’s fun to watch.”
It was just Edmonton’s seventh road win in 27 tries this season, but it definitely gives them some momentum. They’ve scored 12 goals in their last two starts and visit the woeful Montreal Canadiens next.
“I felt pretty good, but it was a better team game than anything else,” said McDavid. “Anytime you can put up seven in the NHL it’s a good night for the team. And when you’re only giving up two against a very good offensive team, that says a lot, too.”
The numbers in the last two games look like something from the ’80s Oilers. The line of McDavid, Eberle and Benoit Pouliot has 14 points in six periods. The power play went three-for-three, needing just 2:16 to score its third, fourth and fifth goals in the last two games. Fifteen different players registered at least a point.
“We feel very confident,” said McDavid, speaking for the team.
Remember Sens goalie Craig Anderson, who was telling everyone to calm down about McDavid’s highlight-reel goal on Tuesday because one of the Blue Jackets “toepicked and gave him a breakaway?” He got chased from the game by the time anyone in the place had finished their first beer.
Mark Fayne scored at 4:29, then it was Eberle from McDavid at 5:10 and Eberle from McDavid again at 11:16. Three goals on 10 shots.
“They were a catalyst for our team,” said McLellan. “A couple of quick goals, and the other lines did their thing as well.”
After scoring three goals in his previous 18 games, Eberle has three in his last two since lining up with McDavid.
“Chemistry is something you have to build,” he said, suggesting this might only be the tip of the iceberg. “I’ve only been on the ice with him for two games. That stuff takes a little bit of time. It’s a good start but there’s a lot of hockey left to be played.”
Keep playing like this and it could get really interesting.
“I think we have to limit how high we get here, it’s only two games,” said Eberle. “We have to make sure we temper that, but this is a start.”
The Senators closed it to 3-2 in the second period when Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone scored, but that was as close as they’d get. Zack Kassian, Andrej Sekera, Leon Draisaitl and Brandon Davidson made sure of it.
Eric Gryba also made some big noise in his return to Ottawa, pitching in with an assist and getting in a pair of fights with Max McCormick in the first period and Zack Smith in the second.
“It was a spirited game,” he said with a laugh. “Sometimes tempers will boil over, especially in a game like that where we kind of ran away with it.”
In the end, a good time was had by all. “That was a full team win,” grinned Gryba. “We’re kind of getting on a roll here.”