EDMONTON — Outshot 29-20 and trying to figure out how to beat the New York Rangers with their ‘B’ game, the Edmonton Oilers reached out to May to find a style that could win a game on Nov. 9.
“It’s massive,” began Leon Draisaitl, who scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season in a 3-1 Oilers win. “Winning a game on home ice 3-1 where you’re not at your absolute best, that’s playoff hockey, right? So much momentum going back and forth…
“Learning how to win those early on in the year is going to pay off later on in the year.”
One man’s gold is another man’s garbage, apparently.
“I thought the goals that they scored were kind of fluky goals,” said New York’s J.T. Miller, who watched his goalie Dylan Garand hand a puck to Connor McDavid for the 1-0 goal. “We outplayed them today and we deserved a better fate. Their goalie played outstanding.”
As McDavid lengthens his season-long point streak to 19 games — he still has more assists (37) than anyone else in the league has points — and Draisaitl scores on a pace for 70-plus goals, lost out here in Edmonton is the fact they might just have found the goalie they’ve been seeking in Devon Levi.
Levi stole this one for Edmonton, a sight not seen enough over the years in these parts.
“That's why I'm here, right? The last line of defence,” chirped Levi, who is 8-1 as an Oiler. “I kind of embrace that. I love it. If we played a perfect game, we wouldn't need a goalie. And they’ve got my back when I need them to — which isn’t much. We usually play really good.”
This one took some big saves early, along with several New York odd-man rushes that didn’t even produce a shot.
“You mean the two partial breakaways in the first, and the three two-on-ones that they didn't even get a shot on? Yeah, I saw them too,” said head coach Mike Babcock.
Come the final period, you knew this would be a battle down to the final siren. The Oilers hunkered down and won that battle, outscoring New York 1-0 in the third period on Draisaitl’s empty-netter, and sending the Rangers’ power play home after an 0-for-5 night.
“We locked that down in the third period (with) some huge plays from the guys. Davo winning that battle at the end, and Leo with that lob shot (for the empty-netter," Levi said. "I mean, that's incredible. If he doesn't score there, we're on a six-on-four for another minute and a half.”
No-hitter sitter
Among other stats that have left Oilers fans wanting more when it comes to Jake Walman, how about this one? In 11 games played this season, Walman has been credited with exactly zero hits.
Walman has just one lonely assist in 11 games and is a team-worst minus-8, but he does rank second in blocked shots/60. Nevertheless, Walman spent his fifth night in the press box Monday in Edmonton’s last seven games.
“The bottom line is, what do you do without the puck? What chance are you involved in? What do you do when you have it?” said Babcock, when asked about the 30-year-old, who opened a seven-year, $49 million contract this season. “Unlike you (media) guys who watch (a game) once, we watch it over and over again with five people. So we’ve got a pretty good handle on (everything).”
So, when does Walman get back in? Babcock isn’t making any promises.
“We just try to make the best decisions to make the team successful, and at the same time we’re trying to build everyone up so they can be the best version of themselves,” the coach said. “Sometimes it’s hard, when it’s not going your way.”
Spec's checks — Edmonton has handled the Rangers pretty well in recent years. They’re 12-2-2 in the past 16 meetings … At 13-3-3, the Oilers are the first Western team to 13 wins, and sit second in the NHL standings, one point behind Carolina.
