EDMONTON– The Edmonton Oilers came out and managed to get their game back, beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 in the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday.
The Oilers entered the Heritage Classic having lost four straight games (0-3-1), but they ended that losing streak with one of their most complete efforts of the season, including their best third period so far.
“The way we came out and asserted the way we wanted to play, that felt like us tonight,” coach Jay Woodcroft said. “It was like us and it’s a credit to our players. I think we have a lot of proud people in our organization among our playing group, our coaching staff and our management, and no one is happy with the way we started this season, collectively.
“I just think we started playing a certain way again. We got some good contributions and we played fast, we played hard and we’ll look to build on that as we move forward.
The Oilers (2-5-1) benefit from the return of the captain Connor McDavid, who missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury. McDavid had an assist in 23:26 of ice time in the win, but more importantly, he didn’t appear to have any lingering aftereffects from his injury.
“Every time you see your captain, or the head of our snake, come back into the lineup, it gives everyone a little boost,” Woodcroft said. “I thought he played hard tonight. It’s a different type of game, the ice isn’t normally what it is, but I thought he was dangerous every shift. He pushes teams away with his speed, and I thought we had a lot of really good signs in his game.”
There were questions about whether McDavid would be able to recover in time to play in the Heritage Classic, which drew a sold-out crowd of 55,411 to Commonwealth Stadium.
McDavid suffered an upper-body injury during the third period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on October 21. The next day, the Oilers announced he would be out for one to two weeks, putting his availability for the away game in jeopardy.
“I’ve said it every day: Our staff is so good here in Edmonton, top to bottom,” McDavid said. “It was comfortable at all times of the match.”
McDavid had a lot of help in the win against the Flames. Evander Kane scored one goal and two assists, Zach Hyman scored a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl got two assists, and Vincent Desharnais scored his first NHL goal to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead in the third period.
“Obviously it was a big win for our group. We needed it,” McDavid said. “It was a big game for us, whether it was indoors or away, so for us to get a win in front of all our fans with a big show, it made it even better.”
Outside of a convincing 6-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Oct. 17, the Oilers have struggled to put together a complete 60-minute effort this season.
That changed Sunday, when they took a 3-1 lead in the first period before putting the game out of reach for the Flames with their best third period of the season. This effort is reminiscent of how the Oilers were able to close out games last season, when they had a 50-23-9 record.
“I thought we got back to basics on how we like to play and how we need to play,” Kane said. “I thought we skated really well, I thought we were physical and had pucks and bodies on net. If you look at the goals we scored, every one of them was around their blue paint or wreaking havoc around their blue paint. This is our group’s recipe for success.
“It’s easy to look back at our first seven games and see how we played them, and we wanted to get back to the type of team we are. We know we’re a good team in every period, and 3-2 going into the third period is a moment we often imagine ourselves in, and we have to figure out how we need to play, and I thought we did that. excellent work tonight.
Now, Edmonton hopes to use the Heritage Classic as a turning point for the rest of the season.
“I don’t know what made us become more alike,” Woodcroft said. “One of the things I know is this team has won 100 games over the last two seasons. This team has made five playoff appearances over the past two seasons. We’ve done a lot of really good things, but to me, this is how we have to play, and we have to do it every day. It felt like who we were, who we are, and how we are going to chart our path in the future.
