Edmonton Oilers put a bow on Christmas, wrap up another heavyweight

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Take that, NHL.

Just in time for the end of the mail strike, the Edmonton Oilers put their stamp on December Sunday, taking down the Ottawa Senators to complete a massive pre-Christmas tear through the best teams the NHL has to offer.

In what was supposed to be a dangerous and potentially humbling tour of the league’s heavyweight division, Edmonton went 5-1 against Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Vegas, Florida, Boston and Ottawa, outscoring them 26-14.

In doing so, they moved from seventh place in the Western Conference to a tie for third and from fourth place in the Pacific Division to second. Consider that October hangover fully cured.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner, who improved to 10-3-1 in his last 14 starts after the 3-1 decision. “We’re finding ways to win games. We don’t want to lose two in a row and we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that lately.

“I think the way we’ve been playing in all ends of the ice has been pretty consistent. Heading into the break we’re going to relax a bit and kick the legs up so we can feel rested coming into the rest of the season.”

Sunday was power on power — the hottest team in the East (Sens were 8-1-1 in their previous 10) against the hottest team in the West (Oilers were 8-2-0).

“That was part of the discussion before we stepped out on the ice, how hot of a team they are,” said Skinner, who stopped 20 of 21 shots. “It was a really good, mature win by us. The guys played fantastic defensively.”

The Oilers never trailed and the game never seemed in doubt. All it took was one goal in each period and some tight team defence and Edmonton heads into the break on a four-game win streak with a 12-3-0 record in their last 15 games.

“I like our resilience,” said winger Zach Hyman, who extended his goal-scoring streak to six games in the win. “The past couple of games we were down going into the third and in this one we were up and playing with the lead and I thought we did a really good job defending and not giving them much.

“I think we’re pretty confident in kind of giving up a little bit of our offence to take away their offence and taking whatever is given.”

Hyman’s hot play continues

The Hyman rampage continues. The Bubble Boy scored again on Sunday, giving him 10 goals in the nine games since returning from injury. After three goals in his first 20 games of the season he now has 13 goals in 29 games.

“It was just a 20-game blip,” he said of his start. “I thought I was playing well, I just wasn’t scoring. That’s what happens, you just have to keep playing. If you continue to stick with it and if your team has the confidence to stick with you which obviously the coaching staff did…”

Nugent-Hopkins a late scratch

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed his first game of the season and just his third game in the last three years when he fell ill Sunday. So, Viktor Arvidsson, in his third game back after missing 15 with an injury, took his place on the first line and needed less than a period to score his first goal since Nov. 9.

“I was just trying to play my game, play with the puck and work hard,” said Arvidsson, who had nice, two-point night. “I think I created a lot of chances, so I’m happy with that.”
 

Oilers get break against Ullmark

The Oilers were up against the best goalie in the NHL over the last month. For one period, anyway. Linus Ullmark, who was 7-0 with a 0.99 goals against average and .967 save percentage over his last seven starts, lasted 20 minutes before having to leave the game in the first intermission with an upper body injury.

The Sens had to throw in backup Leevi Merilainen, who went to overtime Saturday night in the late game in Vancouver. He allowed two goals on 14 shots.

Big Bouchard mistake

Evan Bouchard’s struggles continue. He’s had some monster mistakes this season but none more glaring than the goal he served up for Ottawa to start the second period. As the last man back at his own blue line, he got too casual in trying to deke through Nick Cousins and wound up fishing the puck out of his own net five seconds later after Cousins scored on a breakaway. And, just like that, it was 1-1.

Not messing around

The general rule when a player had a facial injury and has to wear a protective shield is that you don’t smack that guy in the face. It’s common decency and respect for your opponent.

So, naturally, Cousins smacks Hyman in the face in the first period. But the Oilers winger was having none of it. He got up and elbowed the Senators forward square in the mouth, dropping him like a bag of rice. The referees saw what happened and made their point with the penalties — they evened it up, giving Cousins two for roughing and Hyman two for “interference.”

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