“We are a mature group”: The Oilers recover after a difficult first period and secure the victory in overtime

SALT LAKE CITY – After a five-day break in their schedule, the rested Edmonton Oilers were a hot slugfest in the first half on Friday night in Utah.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Period 2.

“Sometimes there are moments when it gets louder,” Leon Draisaitl began a locker room speech that helped turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-3 overtime victory. “Where the unpleasant things unfortunately have to be said.”

Well, the head coach made it clear that “it wasn’t good enough” after an opening period in which the Utah Hockey Club had the puck for almost the entire game.

But then, according to the young Vasiliy Podkolzin, “Leon and the leadership group” laid down the law as to what had to happen and when it would begin.

Players almost never speak verbatim about internal conversations like this, but Draisaitl’s description of Edmonton’s first period most likely gives us some insight into what was said, minus the profanity.

“When you throw away pucks and don’t take care of them, you end up defending a lot – because you don’t have them,” he explained. “If you take care of the puck, value it and make good hockey plays, you’ll get a lot more out of it. And that has a snowball effect on appearance and opportunities.”

Heck, Connor McDavid (minus-2 in that span) may have been the Oilers’ worst player. Evan Bouchard was hot on his heels.

So things got louder and the Oilers got better.

“The great thing about our team is that there is never any blame,” said Draisaitl. “When a man decides to say something, he also participates in that conversation. We are a mature group that can handle such moments.”

“It’s very powerful when it comes from the players,” Knoblauch said after the game. “If the players denounce each other, that’s very, very good for them.”

After an initial phase full of overpasses and perimeter attacks, Podkolzin parried Darnell Nurse in two-on-one mode and fired a wrist shot through Karel Vejmelka’s cushion.

The folks in Vancouver warned us that Podkolzin may have had the sharpest wrist shot against the Canucks during his tenure there. This was the first evidence of that and the young Russian has now scored in consecutive games.

“It’s always fun to score, especially with a wrist shot. I love this shot,” said the 23-year-old.

Will he score every night now?

“I’m scared to even think like that,” he said. “I live day by day, work day by day. But I hope it happens a lot more often.”

From there, the Oilers’ power play went to work, probably winning them a hockey game for the first time this year, with their first two-goal game of the season – in Game 23. There were 16 two-goal games last season. Played 84 in the last five seasons, or 22.5 percent of their games.

This year? Once in 23 games.

“Scoring two power play goals is the difference in the game,” Knoblauch said. “It was very unpredictable. We had Connor (McDavid) on the right side, Connor on the left side, Leon in the middle, Leon on the right side. Nuggy moves around. There were lots of lovely little plays. And just look at how many times (Utah) had chances to get the puck out and we managed to keep the pucks alive.”

On a Friday in which Vegas, Vancouver and Los Angeles each won their games, the Oilers found themselves deadlocked at 3-3 with most of the third period left to play after Lawson Crouse took a 3-2 lead Edmonton was able to nullify the third just 3:42 into the game.

And then Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ offense finally came, with his third breakthrough of the season in overtime. He shot a short side shot at Vejmelka, well placed right at the blocker side post.

“This year quite often I miss it by a few centimeters or the goalkeepers make a good stop. A contribution or whatever,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It’s nice to see them go in every now and then.”

Good for everyone on this team, because the possible end of a Nugent-Hopkins funk, the awakening of a dormant power play and Podkolzin’s goals in consecutive games are all signs that the worm is turning in a slow opening quarter to the 2024-25 season for 12 -9-2 Edmonton.

They have now won three of their last four games, including Saturday night in Denver against the Avalanche.

“Of course you’re hoping to get some momentum going so that things sort themselves out a little bit. This is the time of year that teams are looking for it,” Draisaitl said. “Nuggy is a clutch player. He plays really well in close games, and when he gets a reward… We’re probably happier about that than when he does.”

This was a night where an entire team found a reward they didn’t seem to deserve after 20 minutes.

“Probably a night where we didn’t feel good,” Nugent-Hopkins admitted. “But to get the two points on an evening like this is of course huge.”

Oil spills – With the score tied at 3-3, Calvin Pickard came across his crease to rob Nick Schmaltz, a save that might have been worth two points in the standings. The backup goaltender was outstanding, making 28 saves…The Oilers PK have a 17-for-17 streak, perfect in the last eight games…With a four-game point streak (4-4-8), this was Draisaitl’s 250 career multi-point game – in career game No. 742…Edmonton went 7-1-1 in its last nine games against the Arizona Coyotes before the franchise moved north…Edmonton is this season 12-2-1 when three or fewer goals are allowed, but 0-7-1 when four or more goals are allowed.