3 Takeaways From Oilers’ 5-2 Win Against Ducks

Oilers netminder Devon Levi made 29 saves in a winning effort. Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal was beaten five times on 17 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Ville Husso, who stopped both shots he faced.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, Edmonton scored five unanswered goals in the second period. There was no scoring in the third period.

The Oilers went one-for-four with the man-advantage while Anaheim converted two of seven power-play opportunities.

With the victory, Edmonton improves to 3-0-1 this season and moves to first place in the Pacific Division standings.

Offensive Explosion

There is likely no better trio of offensively gifted teammates in the NHL than Bouchard, Leon Draisiatl and McDavid. When they get going, Edmonton’s big guns simply can’t be stopped, as Anaheim found out on Wednesday.

The goals came one after another during the second period, starting when Bouchard scored just 11 seconds in the middle frame. Kapanen tied the game on the powerplay at 6:30, Bouchard gave Edmonton the lead with his second goal of the night at 14:12, Podkolzin tallied at 16:49, and McDavid put an exclamation mark on the offensive onslaught when he lit the lamp with just 52 seconds remaining in the period.

At least one of Bouchard, Draisaitl or McDavid recorded a point on every Oilers’ goal. Four of Edmonton’s five goals saw at least two of Bouchard, Draisaitl and McDavid register a point.

Bouchard and McDavid finished the game with three points apiece, while Draisaitl tied the franchise record with four assists in a single period.

If they are to win the Stanley Cup, the Oilers will ultimately need depth scoring. But Edmonton’s superstars are a constant threat to erupt at any given time, which makes the Oilers arguably the most dangerous team in the NHL. Through four games, the Oilers have already scored three or more goals in a period four times.

Practice for the PK

The Oilers were shorthanded seven times on Wednesday, matching their single-game high from last season.

Anaheim scored on its first two opportunities with the man advantage in the first period. At that point, Edmonton’s penalty kill sat at a woeful 44.4% (four-for-nine) this season.

But perhaps practice makes perfect, because the more they played shorthanded, the better the Oilers got at killing penalties.

Over the second and third periods, the Oilers killed off all five Anaheim powerplays. Anaheim even had a two-man advantage for 75 seconds late in the third and pulled Husso for the extra attacker to make it six-on-three, but the Oilers didn’t concede.

“Our penalty kill that started crazy was excellent for us,” Oilers coach Mike Babcock said of his squad’s play after the opening 20 minutes.

There is still a lot of work to be done. Edmonton’s penalty-kill is now at 64.3%, which ranks 28^th in the NHL. The Oilers have allowed five power-play goals, tied for most in the league.

Levi Impresses

It’s often said that the best penalty-killer is the goaltender, and Levi certainly did his part on Wednesday.

While he allowed two goals before the game was even 16 minutes old, Levi had maybe the best period by Oilers goaltender so far this season. He stopped 14 of 16 shots in the opening stanza, making several challenging saves. It can’t be overstated how important it was that Levi kept Edmonton’s deficit to just two goals, allowing his team to stay within striking distance and mount an offensive in the second period.

After a dismal debut with the Oilers last Thursday (Oct. 1), giving up seven goals on 22 shots against the Vancouver Canucks, Levi has bounced back with consecutive strong performances: he made 19 saves in Edmonton’s 3-1 win at home against the Seattle Kraken last Saturday (Oct. 3).

With his play these last two games, the 24-year-old Levi is staking his claim to be Edmonton’s No. 1 netminder. Fellow Oilers goalie Tristan Jarry struggled mightily in his only game this season, a 6-5 overtime loss to the Canucks on Sept. 29.

On Monday (Oct. 5), Babcock said that Levi would start once and Jarry would start twice on Edmonton’s three-game road trip, which continues on Saturday (Oct. 10) against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center before wrapping up next Tuesday (Oct. 13) against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena. But given Levi’s latest performance, could Babcock be reconsidering his plans?

We’ll see who’s between the pipes for the Oilers when the puck drops in San Jose on Saturday. Game time is 2 p.m. MDT.