‘We’re a mature group’: Oilers rally from rough first period to secure overtime win

SALT LAKE CITY — After a five-day break in their schedule, the rested up Edmonton Oilers were hot garbage in the first period Friday night in Utah.

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

“Sometimes there are moments where it gets louder,” Leon Draisaitl began, on a locker room address that helped to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-3 overtime win. “Where the uncomfortable things need to be said, unfortunately.”

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

But then, according to young Vasiliy Podkolzin, “Leon and the leadership group” laid down the law on what had to happen, and when it was going to start happening.

Players almost never go verbatim about internal conversations like this, but Draisaitl’s description of Edmonton’s first period very likely gives us an expletive-free window into what was said.

“When you throw pucks away and don’t take care of them, you’re defending a lot — because you don’t have it,” he explained. “If you take care of the puck, value the puck, and make good hockey plays, then you’re going to have it a lot more. And that snowball effects into looks and chances.”

Heck, Connor McDavid (minus-2 in the period) may well have been the worst Oilers player. Evan Bouchard was right on his heels.

So things got loud, and the Oilers got better.

“The one great part about our team is, there’s never finger-pointing,” Draisaitl said. “If a guy decides to say something, he puts himself into that conversation as well. We’re a mature group that can handle those moments.”

“It’s very powerful when it comes from the players,” Knoblauch said post-game. “When the players are calling each other out, that’s very, very good on them.”

After a first period of over-passing and perimeter play, Podkolzin looked off Darnell Nurse on a two-on-one and zipped a wrist shot through Karel Vejmelka’s pillows.

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

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

Will he score every night now?

“I’m scared to even think this way,” he said. “I’m living day by day, working day by day. But I hope it will be much more often.”

From there, the Oilers’ power play went to work, winning them a hockey game likely for the first time all year, with its first two-goal game of the season — in Game 23. It had 16 two-goal games last season and 84 over the past five seasons, or 22.5 per cent of their games.

This year? Once in 23 games.

“Getting two power-play goals, that’s 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 moving around. There was a lot of nice little plays. And you just look at how many times (Utah) had chances to get the puck out, and we were able to keep pucks alive.”

On a Friday where Vegas, Vancouver and Los Angeles each won their games, the Oilers found themselves in a 3-3 deadlock with most of the third period to play, after Lawson Crouse erased a 3-2 Edmonton lead just 3:42 into the third.

And then Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ offence arrived, finally, with his third of the season on a semi-breakaway in overtime. He sniped one short side on Vejmelka, nicely placed just inside the blocker-side post.

“Quite a few times this year, I’m either missing it by a couple inches, or the goalies are making a good stop on it. A post or whatever,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It’s nice to see them go in once in a while.”

Nice for everyone on this team to see, as the possible end of a Nugent-Hopkins funk, the awakening of a slumberous power play, and Podkolzin scoring in back-to-back games are all signs of the worm turning on a slow opening quarter to the 2024-25 campaign for 12-9-2 Edmonton.

They’ve now won three of their past four games, with a Saturday night tilt in Denver against the Avalanche.

“Of course, you’re hoping to gather some momentum, for things to fall into place a little bit. This is the time of year where that’s what teams are looking for,” Draisaitl said. “Nuggy is a clutch player. He plays really well in tight games, and for him to get a reward… We probably get more excited about it than when he does, seemingly.”

This was a night where an entire team found a reward that, after 20 minutes, didn’t look like they had a chance of deserving.

“Probably a night where we didn’t feel our best,” allowed Nugent-Hopkins.  “But getting the two points is obviously huge on a night like that.”

OIL SPILLS — At 3-3, Calvin Pickard came across his crease to rob Nick Schmaltz, a save that may have been worth two points in the standings. The backup goalie was excellent, making 28 saves … The Oilers PK is on a 17-for-17 run, perfect through its last eight games … Now on a four-game point streak (4-4-8), this was Draisaitl’s 250th career multi-point game — in career game No. 742 … Edmonton went 7-1-1 in its last nine games versus the Arizona Coyotes, before the franchise moved north … Edmonton is 12-2-1 this season when allowing three goals or less, but 0-7-1 when allowing four or more.