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Nothing like a show of force to remind everyone who you are.
After a 1-1-1 sag that included a regulation loss in Columbus and an overtime defeat in Buffalo, the Edmonton Oilers wasted no time flexing their muscle Wednesday at the expense of the overwhelmed Washington Capitals.
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Not only was it convincing from start to finish, it was the feel-good win of the season with everything falling into place on all fronts.
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Zach Hyman picked up a hat trick, Leon Draisaitl notched four points, Connor McDavid finished with three and Connor Brown absolutely brought down the house with his long-awaited first goal as an Oiler.
Throw in two points each from Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and it adds up to a rousing 7-2 win.
The Capitals, sitting three points out of a playoff spot, had more to play for than Edmonton did but the Oilers were having none of it.
McCLASSIC CONNOR
McDavid didn’t wait very long to let everyone know it was going to be one of those nights. He had a goal and two assists before the first period was 12 minutes old. He set up Draisaitl at 4:36 and Hyman at 11:24 and scored one himself at 6:58.
It was the 118th time he’s picked up three or more points in a game, which is third on the Oilers all-time list behind Jari Kurri (137) and Wayne Gretzky (301).
HOLY HYMAN
Hyman extended his home-ice scoring streak to 10 games, tying him with Wayne Gretzky for the longest home-ice streak in franchise history. Overall he has 13 goals in his last 13 games and has 46 on the season, after a career-high of 21 in Toronto.
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BROWN TOWN
It had to be the loudest ovation for the seventh goal in a 7-2 game in the history of the NHL. But Brown’s doorstep deflection off his skate generated the loudest roar on an evening where there were plenty of reasons to roar.
Rogers Place rose to its feet, as did the Oilers bench, as the much-maligned free-agent signing finally got the monkey off his back. It’s another example of why players in Edmonton marvel at the fan support here.
POWER SURGE
Edmonton’s power play had been sputtering for a week or so (one goal in 17 chances over the previous six games) which is not unusual when the team is on the road. The Oilers are 21st in the league (18.5 per cent) on the man advantage away from home.
But they are first in the league (34.1 per cent) at Rogers Place, so it was no big shock that they scored on three of their first four power plays.
SKINNER VS OVECHKIN
The shots were 10-2 midway through the first period but the Capitals were all square at 2-2 after scoring on their first two shots of the game, at 8:30 and 10:55. Stuart Skinner didn’t make his first save of the game until 18:29, but it was a beauty. He dove across the crease to steal a sure goal from Alex Ovechkin.
He went on to rob Ovechkin twice more in the game, robbing the Russian star of what could have easily been a hat trick.
The Oilers were without defenceman Mattias Ekholm (illness), so Troy Stecher drew in for his first game as an Oiler.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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