The Edmonton Oilers left Wednesday night with two points, and that part is easy enough to celebrate. The harder part is what keeps hanging over these wins: they’ve been getting outplayed and surviving anyway.
That was the case against the New York Rangers earlier in the week, and it showed up again against the Philadelphia Flyers. Edmonton found a way to win, but the way they got there is starting to look familiar in all the wrong ways.
“You never complain about wins,” said Zach Hyman on Wednesday night after scoring two goals. And he’s right.
Teams that want to matter in the standings have to know how to grind out games they don’t fully control. “That’s what good teams do,” said head coach Mike Babcock.
Still, the Oilers are flirting with the same problem that bit them the last time they ran into Toronto.
That earlier meeting came after Edmonton had already beaten the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild. Both of those games were narrow escapes - a shootout win over Carolina and a 4-3 overtime win against Minnesota - and Edmonton was the second-best team in each. Toronto made them pay for it in the next game, rolling to a 7-2 win.
That’s the warning sign here. If the Oilers keep leaning on survival hockey, they may not get the same mercy twice.
Now they’re headed back to Toronto, this time to open a six-game road trip. Edmonton sits at 14-3-3, and a rough stretch could chip away at that fast. A strong start on the trip matters because the margin for error gets thin in a hurry.
There’s another issue bubbling under the surface, too: the goaltending has been carrying too much of the load. Edmonton is sitting atop the NHL standings after 20 games for the first time since January 10, 1990, and they’ve matched their best start since 1984-85. That’s a major accomplishment, but it doesn’t erase the concern Babcock raised about how often the netminders are bailing the team out.
“The last two nights, our goaltending has been better than I’d like it to be. I don’t to say it like that…” Babcock said, “Way better than we wanted to have to be. … Is that a better way to say it?”
The reality is simple enough: there’s only so long Edmonton can keep asking Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi to steal games. They’ve done it, but they can’t be expected to carry that burden forever. The Oilers are winning, but the support around them needs to catch up before the next wake-up call arrives.
In Other News...
Matvei Michkov Rumors Put The Flyers' Future In Question
Rumors around Matvei Michkov have started to swirl at an awkward time for the Flyers, with speculation building around the young forwards long-term future in Philadelphia. The chatter has centered on whether he might want a fresh start, even as both Michkov and the team have tried to tamp down the noise and keep the focus on hockey rather than the rumor mill.
What makes this worth watching is the timing. Michkovs restricted free agent status gives the situation an added layer of intrigue, and the discussion has only grown louder because of questions about the Flyers direction. For a franchise trying to shape its next chapter, any uncertainty around a player with Michkovs profile is bound to draw attention, even if the next move remains unclear. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers May Be Eyeing A Buy Low Move With Blackhawks
Trade chatter between the Flyers and Blackhawks has centered on a player who could fit Philadelphias timeline if the price is right. The interest is in Oliver Moore, a 21-year-old forward whose offensive promise has shown up in college and the AHL, even if that production has not yet carried over consistently to the NHL level. For a Flyers team still looking to deepen its young core, that kind of profile can make sense as a buy-low target.
Moore also comes with contract control that makes him more than just a short-term flier, which is part of why his name has surfaced in these discussions. The Flyers, meanwhile, have already made clear they are not shopping Matvei Michkov, with general manager Danny Briere pushing back on rumors and describing the winger as a key offensive piece. So if Philadelphia is looking to add another young scorer, this is the sort of deal that could reveal how aggressively Briere wants to keep building around the rosters emerging talent. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Fans Got A Clear Response To The Michkov Rumor
A fresh round of speculation around Matvei Michkov got a firm answer from the Flyers on Tuesday, with general manager Daniel Briere pushing back on reports that the young forward wants out. Briere said the story was wrong and stressed that Michkov is continuing to move forward in his career, a notable response for a player who has quickly become one of the most closely watched names in the organization.
The timing matters because Michkov has been productive again this season, with 14 points in 20 games, and his long-term value to Philadelphia remains obvious. Through 181 NHL games, he has already piled up 128 points, which is why any rumor involving his future was always going to draw attention from Flyers fans looking for clarity on one of the teams most important young pieces. [Read more 🡒]