The Edmonton Oilers kept rolling Saturday afternoon, and this time they did it in a matinee that had long been a problem spot for them.
Edmonton beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 to improve to 4-0-1, stretch its winning streak to four games, and move into first place in the Pacific Division for the time being. The game never got especially wild, but the Oilers found enough offense early and again in the third period to stay in control.
Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring about seven and a half minutes into the first period. Isaac Howard and Josh Samanski won a battle along the boards, Howard moved the puck across to Ekholm at the point, and the veteran defender blasted it past Yaroslav Askarov for a 1-0 Edmonton lead.
From there, the game settled in. Neither side scored the rest of the first period or through the second, but the Oilers broke it open early in the third. Connor McDavid led a rush and found Vasily Podkolzin trailing the play, and Podkolzin buried the one-timer to make it 2-0.
A little more than two minutes later, Alex Formenton scored his first goal as an Oiler. Mathieu Joseph sent him in alone for a breakaway, and Formenton finished to push Edmonton ahead 3-0.
San Jose got one back after a turnover from Formenton in the defensive zone, with Macklin Celebrini beating Tristan Jarry to cut the deficit to 3-1. That was as close as the Sharks got.
Jarry’s afternoon was a sharp bounce-back after a rough season opener in Edmonton’s only loss so far. He stopped 19 of 20 shots, finishing with a .950 save percentage. The Oilers are clearly hoping that level of play continues, along with Devon Levi’s, if they’re going to settle the goaltending picture.
This one also looked different from Wednesday’s win, when the top line carried the load. Saturday brought production from all over the lineup. Howard and Samanski each picked up an assist despite playing fewer than 10 minutes, while the speedy trio of Formenton, Joseph, and Owen Michaels contributed a goal and also ended up on the ice for San Jose’s lone score.
McDavid’s line got on the board too, with Podkolzin’s third-period goal standing as the game-winner. Through five games, the Russian has five goals and seven points.
The only unit that didn’t score was the de facto second line of Filip Hållander, Jason Dickinson, and Kasperi Kapanen. Hållander made his Oilers debut and logged 14:11 of ice time, and he did what he was brought in to do by forcing a handful of turnovers on the forecheck.
Ekholm finished with his first goal of the season while playing just under 23 minutes. Evan Bouchard was a plus-2 and added an assist, and Connor Murphy also collected a helper. Bouchard, Murphy, and Ryan Shea each topped 24 minutes, while Ty Emberson and Shakir Mukhamadullin skated about 11 minutes on the third pair.
Edmonton now gets a couple of days off before heading back to the Los Angeles area to face the Kings on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. MT.
In Other News...
Evan Bouchard Is Forcing A Big Oilers Debate Early
Evan Bouchard has wasted no time putting himself at the center of the Oilers early-season conversation. Through four games, the defenseman has six goals and 11 points, leading all blueliners in scoring and sitting second on the team in points behind Connor McDavid. He has also been logging a heavy workload while helping drive Edmontons offense, another sign of how much the Oilers are leaning on him right now.
The numbers have been impossible to ignore, and they have naturally reopened a familiar debate around Bouchards game. His offensive impact is obvious, but his defensive play remains the part of the conversation that keeps the Norris Trophy discussion from becoming straightforward. For Edmonton, the question is less about whether he has been one of the NHLs most productive defensemen so far and more about how far that production can carry him if the rest of the profile does not fully match. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers May Have Found More Than Depth In This Trade
The Oilers latest swap with Pittsburgh was framed as a depth move on paper, with Spencer Stastney going the other way and Filip Hallander coming back to Edmonton. But the more interesting part of the deal is what Hallander brings beyond simple roster insulation. He is a younger center who has done most of his growing up in the Swedish Hockey League, where his play has stood out enough to earn international attention, and he arrives with a profile that suggests there may be more here than a routine bottom-six addition.
Hallander has also given Edmonton a small but encouraging offensive glimpse in limited NHL usage this season, which only adds to the intrigue around how the Oilers might use him while injuries continue to test their forward depth. Stastneys metrics were solid but unspectacular, so the trade could end up being judged less by what Edmonton gave up than by whether Hallander can translate his strong track record into a larger role. For a team that needs reliable minutes now, the possibility of uncovering a useful center along the way makes the deal worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Devon Levi Is Giving The Oilers A Real Starter Debate
With Frederik Andersen sidelined, the Oilers have leaned on a goaltending tandem of Devon Levi and Tristan Jarry, and the early returns have made the crease look a lot less settled than it did a few weeks ago. Levi has started three games and has given Edmonton a steady enough presence to keep winning, while Jarry has only had one chance to answer and was left with an overtime loss.
The bigger takeaway for Edmonton is that Levi is quickly turning a short-term necessity into a real conversation about the future. General manager Stan Bowman brought him in from Buffalo with an eye on upside, and the Oilers have reason to like what they are seeing so far, especially with Andersen unavailable and the backup plan still taking shape behind him. [Read more 🡒]