Utah came into Edmonton as favorites, boasting an impressive 8-2-0 record, but quickly found out that the Oilers are still very much capable of taking over games in short order.

Edmonton came buzzing out of the gate Tuesday evening, and no player was fishing for a goal harder than Jack Roslovic. Roslovic was able to deke out his man, enter the zone, split the D, and beat Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka – but not the post. Roslociv didn’t find his way onto the scoreboard all game, but it was not for a lack of trying. If he beat Vejmelka on his rush the goal would have rivaled McDavid’s iconic goal against the Rangers in 2021.

Disaster would strike the next shift. Nurse fumbled a pass at the Oilers blue line into Dylan Guenther, he fanned a shot before setting up Logan Cooley who wristed it top corner past Skinner’s glove hand for the opening goal. And Nurses’s bad luck didn’t end there. With a minute left to go, his dump in pass bounced off an official’s skate and created a Utah breakaway which would extend the Mammoth’s lead to two.

The Oilers didn’t shy down, however. Edmonton won the first draw of the second period and barreled into Utah’s end, Draisaitl drew defenders before finding a wide open Mattias Ekholm, and Ekholm launched a slapshot through Vejmelka for Edmonton’s first goal of the night. A couple minutes late Adam Henrique made a centering pass from behind the net – while swarmed by the Mammoth defense – and Ike Howard buried the shot from the slot to tie the game.

Utah’s last goal came from a Skinner classic puck moving play; the puck bounced over his stick while he was behind the net and the Mammoth got a free empty netter to retake the lead.

Undeterred, Edmonton continued shelling Vejmelka. A slapshot from Jake Walman rebounded wide off the pads into Leon Draisaitl’s office, and Draisaitl re-tied the game with a shot he doesn’t miss often. Edmonton didn’t let up. After another rebound wide, McDavid gained possession and beat a siked out Vejmelka with a give-and-go sequence assisted by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

There was no hope for the Mammoth after that. Giving up five goals in one period is a death sentence.

The most impressive part of Edmonton’s game was that they didn’t lay off their intensity in the final twenty minutes. The Oilers hemmed in the Mammoth for a solid four minute shift, and while they didn’t get any goals out of it (or even any quality shots), Utah was completely unable to generate offense when they were desperately down two goals. Connor McDavid made sure to completely trample their hopes and dreams with an empty net goal to give the Oilers the 6-3 win. Edmonton persevered through the early adversity against Utah then preceeded to blow them completely out of the water – a much needed win after their lacklustre weekend.

The Oilers will host the New York Rangers on Thursday night, who will want revenge for getting shut out in their own barn by Edmonton not too long ago.