On Wednesday, February 28, the Edmonton Oilers defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at Rogers Place to conclude their five-game homestand with a 2-2-1 record.
Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas had given the Blues a 2-0 lead before the game had even begun. The Oilers responded with goals from Connor McDavid in overtime and twice from Zach Hyman.
Stuart Skinner of Edmonton made 34 stops, while Jordan Binnington stopped 35 shots in a losing effort for the Blues. Both goalies were very busy.
With the victory, Edmonton improves to 35-20-2 this season and pulls within one point of the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division standings.
McDavid Wins It in Overtime
All the talk in Oil Country has been about the wildly divergent offensive production of McDavid, who is on pace both to score his fewest goals in seven years and to become only the fourth player in NHL history with 100-plus assists in a season.
This dichotomy had been most pronounced over Edmonton’s 10 games prior to Wednesday, a stretch that saw McDavid rack up 23 points – all of which were assists.
Only once previously in his nine NHL seasons had McDavid gone 10 games without scoring, and he was seconds away from establishing a new career-worst goalless drought on Wednesday. Then he went full superstar mode, taking the puck from inside his own blue line, winding his way around a couple Blues, and ultimately chipping the puck over the shoulder of Binnington with just 25.3 seconds remaining in sudden death. The goal sent Rogers Place into a frenzy, lifted the Oilers to victory, and snapped McDavid’s slump.
“There was no one to pass to,” McDavid joked while talking to media after the game. To his credit, Edmonton’s captain remained good-humoured throughout this stretch whenever asked about his lack of goals.
McDavid also assisted on both of Hyman’s goals, because of course he did. The Oilers captain now has 22 goals and 72 assists this season, ranking third in the NHL with 94 points.
Hyman Hits 40 Goals
With two goals on Wednesday, Hyman extended his scoring streak to six consecutive games, but more significantly reached 40 goals this season.
Not only does Hyman become just the third Oilers player since 1990-91, joining teammates McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, to score 40 times in a season, but he’s also the second quickest to 40 goals among all Oilers players since 1988-89: Hyman scored goal No. 40 in his 56th game, McDavid reached 40 in 48 games last season.
Hyman now has the second most goals in the NHL this season, trailing only Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, who is running away in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race with 52 goals.
In Edmonton’s rich NHL history, only Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and McDavid have scored more than 55 goals in a single season. Hyman is now on pace for 56 goals. Think about that.
With each passing game, Hyman’s 2023-24 campaign just becomes more incredible – and his All-Star snub becomes more egregious.
Oilers Start Slow Again
Buchnevich’s goal at 4:49 of the first period made the score 2-0 in favour of the Blues, who had two goals before Edmonton had two shots. The slow start was an all too familiar scenario for an Oilers team that has now given up the first goal in nine of its 12 games since the All-Star Break. And what’s worse is that over these last dozen games, Edmonton has not once taken a lead into the third period.
