Oilers gutsy Saturday win a sign team was built to contend for Cup

Shane Jones · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 09, 2025 12:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

There were immoderate aboriginal signs that the Edmonton Oilers galore predicted to beryllium among the Stanley Cup favourites were backmost successful concern connected Saturday night, adjacent if they had to bent connected for beloved beingness to grounds their 2nd consecutive win.

Facing the surging Dallas Stars, a squad connected a four-game winning streak that had gone 12-2-1 successful its past 15 and which welcomed Finnish prima guardant Mikko Rantanen to the lineup aft a immense commercialized deadline woody connected Friday, the Oilers staked a 5-1 pb done 40 minutes and held connected for a 5-4 triumph successful an aggravated game.

Zach Hyman had a brace of goals and an assist, Connor McDavid had a extremity and a helper, and Viktor Arvidsson and Connor Brown besides scored for the Oilers (37-22-4) who person won 3 of their past four.

Hyman said the triumph proved the Oilers are inactive a pugnacious squad to contend with.

"We're a squad that's been done a ton of adversity," helium said. "I'm not saying we've got our `A' crippled backmost by immoderate means, I deliberation there's a agelong mode to go. But I wouldn't number retired our radical of guys that we person here, the acquisition that we person here. I deliberation we're beauteous assured successful this radical and we person a small agelong present to get to playing our champion truthful that we're feeling bully going into the playoffs."

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 22 saves to nett the triumph for the Oilers.

Edmonton's astir important commercialized deadline acquisition was defenceman Jake Walman, who played his archetypal crippled arsenic an Oiler aft being dealt from the San Jose Sharks. Walman, who is having a vocation play with 33 points, made an contiguous impact, springing Hyman with a beauteous agelong long walk for a breakaway goal.

The 29-year-old Toronto autochthonal said playing the Stars successful specified a tense matter was a acold outcry from however helium has spent astir of his play with the bottom-feeding Sharks.

"That's astir apt the biggest happening I noticed, the vie level. These guys are ever connected here. It's similar a antithetic level, and I'm conscionable truly excited to play astatine that level," Walman said. "Meaningful games, I deliberation that was benignant of astir similar a pre-playoff game."

Walman besides levelled Rantanen with a mid-ice deed precocious successful the 2nd period.

"I thought that was a heck of a start," said Oilers caput manager Kris Knoblauch of Walman's debut. "The walk that helium made connected the Hyman goal, conscionable the composure breaking the pucks out. The 2nd period, helium had that large deed successful the violative portion [on Rantanen], blocking the bluish line, getting pucks through.

"There's truthful overmuch we liked astir his game. Sometimes arsenic a player, you person that adrenalin and you're truly excited astir that one, but I deliberation we'll spot a batch of play similar helium did tonight, and that's wherefore absorption thought precise highly of him to commercialized for him, which I deliberation is truly going to wage disconnected for us."

The astir memorable infinitesimal of the crippled came erstwhile the Oilers went up 4-1 5 minutes into the 2nd play connected a highlight-reel extremity by their skipper arsenic McDavid zipped astir Dallas defender Ilya Lyubushkin to gain a breakaway and past roofed a backhand changeable past Oettinger for his 24th of the season. It was Edmonton's 4th extremity connected 9 shots.

McDavid besides deed the 80-point plateau for the ninth consecutive season. Only 3 players person achieved that people successful much consecutive campaigns than McDavid — Wayne Gretzky (13), Dale Hawerchuk (13) and Phil Esposito (11).

In addition, Leon Draisaitl picked up an assistance connected Edmonton's 3rd extremity to widen his points streak to 14 games, tying his vocation high.