That’s nothing to sneeze at for a franchise that made the playoffs just once during the first four years of McDavid’s career. Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, Edmonton ranks 10th league-wide in terms of regular-season points percentage (.628). And while things have gone to another level this season, success is no six-week thing in Northern Alberta. With the win over Chicago, Edmonton is the top team by points percentage (.765) in the Western Conference. It’s likely this will be a year of further seasoning for him, but it’s encouraging none the less to see him up with the big club and contributing right away.
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A high pick of a blue-liner himself - eighth overall in 2019 - Broberg has shown well in the AHL this year, during his first season of North American pro hockey. Another player who will be trying to help fill some part of the Nurse void is Philip Broberg, who picked up an assist in his first NHL game versus the Hawks. Bouchard has averaged 21:35 of ice time per night and figures to get even more over the next couple weeks with lynchpin Darnell Nurse - by far the minutes king on this squad - sidelined with a broken finger. Evan Bouchard, who had two points in the win over Chicago, has taken a huge leap this season, demonstrating why the Oilers wanted him at 10th overall in 2018. There are also some rays of light breaking through on the blue line. 939 save percentage on the season with a.
With Mike Smith on long-term injured reserve and goaltending questions on this club not going away, you can bet Skinner is going to get a real shot to show what he’s got - and, right now, what he’s got is a. The 23-year-old has been a riser in the organization after being selected 78th overall in 2017. In goal, Stuart Skinner picked up his second straight win after opening the season with a pair of losses. While the game was bookended by the usual exploits from the big boys, the pages in between also told an encouraging story for a franchise that’s sketching away, trying to add shading and depth around two incredible lead characters.
The stars did their thing, as Connor McDavid opened the scoring (and later added an assist) to keep his season-long 17-game point streak alive, while Leon Draisaitl’s NHL-best 18th marker came in the form of a shorthanded dagger that deadened any Chicago hopes in the waning minutes of the third period. The Oilers basically sewed up a win before the first period was over on Saturday night, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on the Chicago Blackhawks in the opening frame and more or less cruising to a 5-2 victory. When it comes to the Edmonton Oilers, though, there’s an ever-growing list of developments for fans to wrap their arms around. It’s always hard to know how much stock to put in a hot start.