Oilers overwhelm Anaheim Ducks in pursuit of first place
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The Edmonton Oilers have officially booked a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs with five games to spare.
Leon Draisaitl scored a hat trick to reach 50 goals for the third time in his career, and Jack Campbell made 36 saves for his first shutout with the Oilers.
A 6-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place on Saturday, gave the Oilers 99 points on the season, keeping them two back of the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Minnesota Wild.
“It was a good night, there were lots of great plays by the guys around me, looking for me. I am proud and very fortunate to have done it,” Draisaitl said. “I was probably being a little too selfish in the third, I was shooting it from everywhere. I think that is alright, usually I tend to overpass it so for once in my life it is OK.”
Despite earning a seat at the playoff table, the Oilers are not expected to take their foot off the pedal, as they embark on a four-game road trip, starting against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
However, Draisaitl said it was good to get to the 50-goal plateau out of the way as the Oilers focus on the chase for the division title. The Oilers are the first team to have two 50-goal scorers since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did it for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.
“Sometimes that can play with your mind a little bit and you tend to get off your game a little bit,” Draisaitl said. “Obviously that is not something I am trying to do, it is just human nature. I am happy that it is over with and I can just keep going.”
With the win the Oilers extended their win streak to four games. They have won nine of their last 10. They play four of their last five on the road.
“We’re working to where we want to be,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft after the morning skate. “I would like to see our team play to our full potential and I don’t think we’re there yet. There has to be a level of consistency.”
The Oilers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL heading down the stretch and have an opportunity to snatch the division title after chasing the Golden Knights for most of the season. But their sights are set even higher this season as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
“You might look at me and shake your head because we just set a record for our organization with 12 wins in the month of March; if you think about the proud history of this organization, I’m happy with that,” Woodcroft said. “But I think there is more there. We can develop a level of consistency to our game night in and night out that will prove very difficult starting in Game 83.”
On Saturday, the Oilers overwhelmed the Ducks, who are simply playing out the string.
Zach Hyman scored on a tip in the first period, Draisaitl had a pair in the second, along with a Darnell Nurse goal, and Connor McDavid added another in the third.
Draisaitl then snapped in a shot on a short-handed rush with five minutes left to reach 50.
“You don’t see it every day that someone scores 50 and gets 100 points pretty much every year they have been in the league,” McDavid said. “It’s really, really impressive. I can’t say enough good things about him; he has been on a real tear and tonight was no different.”
As happy as the Oilers were for Draisaitl, they had equal enthusiasm for Campbell, who collected his first shutout with the team. The Oilers had not pitched a shutout all season until Skinner defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Thursday, and Campbell was perfect Saturday.
“He was amazing tonight, I thought in the first period that he kept us in the game,” Draisaitl said. “We weren’t sharp in the first, he was really standing in there and making big time saves. He gave us a chance to find our legs and was great tonight.”
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME
Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish loves the game of hockey.
Much like former Oilers winger Ryan Smyth, McTavish can’t get enough of the game and is usually the first guy on the ice and last one off it.
Last season, McTavish, 20, played for six different teams, including the Canadian Olympic and World Junior team. He played in both World Junior tournaments, the COVID-19 shortened one in December and then the make-up tournament in August.
McTavish was the only player heading to an NHL training camp who elected to play in the summer tournament.
“An unbelievable kid; has incredible habits,” said Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins, prior to the game. “He’s first on the ice, he goes through what he needs to do in the weight room, he does the maintenance on his body, he watches every second that he’s played and he’s last to leave the ice.
“The worry for us this year is that he’s maybe doing too much. A lot of times we have to drag him off the ice, because he’s still out there. He’s one of those kids that if he went home and there was a road hockey game, he’d probably join in and play in it.”
The third-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, McTavish started last season with the Ducks, playing nine games before send down to play with their AHL affiliate in San Diego. He was then returned to junior to play with the Peterborough Petes, joined the World Junior team and headed to the Olympics.
McTavish returned to the OHL and was traded to the Hamilton Bulldogs, helping them win the league and earn a trip to the Memorial Cup. He then concluded the season by playing in the summer edition of the World Juniors, helping Canada capture gold.
Heading into the game against the Oilers, McTavish had 16 goals and 42 points in 74 games. He is part of a young core group, which hopes to turn around the fortunes of the group.
“I don’t think it’s the year anybody wanted for our group, but I think recently we’ve been playing a little better hockey,” McTavish said. “Personally, it’s tough to have expectations in your first year; you just have to see how it goes, because o many different things can happen, but I feel they’ve given me a pretty good opportunity and I’ve tried to make the most of it.”
Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @DerekVanDiest
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