The Oilers made Thursday’s night win against the Montreal Canadiens about as hard and ugly as they possibly could have, but they managed to eke out a win in what turned into an all Canadian 6-5 barn burner.

Montreal was the stronger team out of the gate. Their youth and speed had Edmonton on their toes. The Canadiens were beating the Oilers to every puck battle and skating circles around most of the team. Calvin Pickard was able to bail the team out for a time until Alex Newhook broke the scoring with a wrist shot. Evan Bouchard lost his cool and slahed Newhook after the play leading to an Habs powerplay right after the goal, but Edmonton maintained their composure and kept their deficit to one.

Late into the third Edmonton tied the game courtesy of David Tomasek and a lucky bounce off Newhook’s skate. Tomasek found his way to the top left circle and fired a slapshot wide, but it caught the Montreal defender and caught Sam Montembeault off guard. It wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough for Tomasek’s first in the NHL.

The second period is where things went off the rails.

Adam Henrique scored a tap in redirect goal assisted by Walman and Ekholm, and three minutes later Andrew Mangiapane extended the Oilers lead to two with a snap shot, but the Canadiens roared back with a vengeance.

Josh Anderson found a way to score a snap shot goal to make it a one goal game. A minute later Cole Caulfield used his speed to beat Pickard again for the tying goal. 50 seconds later Cole Caulfield sucked the air out of the building as he scored again and regained the lead for the Canadiens. Things only got worse as Newhook scored two minutes into the third period to give Montreal a two goal lead.

Edmonton was well on their heels, and they needed a miracle.

With ten minutes left Mike Matheson tripped up McDavid and set the Oilers to the powerplay. Edmonton kept sustained zone pressure and eventually Draisaitl beat Montembeault in the slot off a centering pass from McDavid. In a strange turn of events, the Montreal Canadiens were given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play, and Edmonton went straight back to the powerplay. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found his way to center ice with speed and scored the equalizer later in the third period assisted by Connor McDavid.

The ice was now fully tilted Edmonton’s way, and the Oilers attacked in waves. After a relentless push, Jake Walman found Vasily Podkolzin, and with his back to the net, sent a backhand shot over Montembeaults glove hand for the game winning goal.

A firey finish to what could have been one of the season’s worst losses yet. It’s hard to scrutinize when you manage to win while down two goals in the third, but with that being said, the game was 3-1 in the second and somehow became a 4-3 game in the span of three minutes. This squad has to learn how to keep their composure when the other team is pushing back – especially against young talent like Montreal that has the speed and ability to burn them if allowed.

Every line found a way to contribute in tonight’s game. Without the early depth scoring, Montreal might have just ran away with it. The new pickups gave Edmonton enough time to ramp up to fifth gear and the superstars were able to drive it the rest of the way. Edmonton was able to mount a comeback when it mattered, and they have two points to show for it.

The Oilers are back on the road now, facing the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.