That's why you pay up to keep a generational superstar like McDavid around. On a night where the Oilers looked dead in the water, down both 3-1 and 4-2 against a scrappy Columbus team, Edmonton's captain completely rescued the game with two highlight reel goals in the third period to cut down two multi-goal deficits. …
That’s why you pay up to keep a generational superstar like McDavid around. On a night where the Oilers looked dead in the water, down both 3-1 and 4-2 against a scrappy Columbus team, Edmonton’s captain completely rescued the game with two highlight reel goals in the third period to cut down two multi-goal deficits. Helped out by strong performances from Jake Walman and Jack Roslovic, McDavid and the Oilers managed to win a scrappy game where they didn’t lead once to capture a massive two points and end their three-game losing skid.
After being booed off the ice following an embarrassing 9-1 drubbing at the hands of Colorado, the pressure was on the Oilers to respond with a big effort against a struggling Blue Jackets team. Missing Ryan-Nugent Hopkins – who is out for a week with an undisclosed injury – the Oilers came out aggressive, with recently called out forward Trent Frederic getting into a fight with Mathieu Olivier, and Vasily Podkolzin and Leon Draisaitl laying big hits on Jackets players all within the first ten Minutes. Unfortunately, this didn’t translate to the scoreboard, as Ivan Provorov opened the scoring with a seeing-eye shot from the point to give Columbus a 1-0 lead:
Luckily for Oilers fans, Jake Walman continued his blazing hot start to the season and responded with a seeing-eye shot of his own less than 7-minutes later, deflecting a high wrister off of Jet Greaves glove and into the back of the net to tie the game up at 1-1:
The score would remain 1-1 through the end of the first period, and heading into the second it was anyone’s game. The Oilers however, came out completely flat and struggled to move the puck or generate much of anything as Columbus controlled the lions share of possession and scoring chances in the middle frame. Columbus managed to translate this dominance into a 3-1 lead at the periods conclusion, and their dominance in this 20-minutes was highlighted by a 2-minute shift where Edmonton’s third line failed to clear the zone over and over before eventually giving up a tap in to Boone Jenner right on the edge of the blue paint:
Heading into the third facing a 3-1 deficit, the Oilers it seemed the Oilers would need all hands on deck to make any chance of a comeback possible. However, as it turned out, it only required one set of absolutely filthy hands to make a game of it, as Connor McDavid would start the period with an absurd highlight reel spin-o-rama goal; dancing into the zone, putting Jackets defenseman Denton Mateychuk onto his butt with a nasty spin move before roofing it backhanded over Jet Greaves blocker:
The Oilers followed up this incredible goal from McDavid in what has been their typical fashion this year: giving up an odd man rush and allowing Adam Fantilli to wire one over Stuart Skinner’s glove to restore Columbus’ 2-goal lead:
Trailing by 2 with only 7-minutes left, it would take a near miracle for the Oilers to comeback and win, and thankfully that’s exactly what we got. At the 13:39 mark of the period, McDavid did it again, coming in with speed and cutting to the net, depositing the puck through Jet Greaves outstretched body:
Trailing 4-3 with less than three minutes left, the Oilers pulled the goalie to create a 6 on 5, but Jack Roslovic took a borderline high sticking family to essentially ice the game for Columbus. All the Jackets had to do was survive 2-minutes of powerplay time and they would take the game in regulation, but Jake Walman, Mcdavid’s co-hero tonight, had other ideas. Walman blew the roof of Rogers Place with a last minutes shorthanded tying goal, that ricocheted off Mathieu Olivier’s stick and over Jet Greaves shoulder to tie the game at 4 apiece:
Heading to 3-on-3 overtime, it was anyone’s game to win, and Jack Roslovic decided to take the opportunity to score his biggest goal yet as an Oiler, following up a Stuart Skinner save by taking a stretch pass from Walman to the house to give Edmonton arguably its biggest win of the season thus far:
-Edmonton was ultimately lucky to escape with the win, but at the same time they showed many positive signs that we haven’t seen this season. Namely, these were McDavid finally taking the team on his back, and the offence coming through in a big moment to win a barnburner.
– Stuart Skinner didn’t have a great game by any means, with a .789 Sv% and 15 saves, but he did do enough to win, and made a couple big timely saves on both a breakaway in the third and a two-on-one in overtime.
-The Oilers will look to build on this win as they take to the road to face the Flyers on Wednesday at 5:30 in Philly.
