Edmonton is currently on their biggest home stand of the regular season, facing opponents who are mostly on the bad end of back-to-backs, and the results have been mid. After two great shutouts against Vancouver and the Blues, Edmonton proceeded to get outworked by the Devils and completely outclassed by the Penguins in a game that’s best not thought about.

Following the two losses, the Oilers were able to edge out the Capitals on Saturday night in overtime – mostly thanks to a legacy performance from Evan Bouchard who scored three goals, the first hat trick from an Oilers defenseman since 2006. The Oilers followed up that game with a somewhat cleaner bout against the Ducks where Mattias Ekholm scored the first hat trick of his career and set an NHL record in the process: no NHL team has ever had back-to-back hat tricks from defensemen, ever – until now that is.

The game didn’t start out on a positive note; almost immediately the Oilers took a penalty and Mikael Granlund was able to beat Tristan Jarry cleanly on the short side through a leaky Oilers defense.

To Edmonton’s credit, they tied the score before the end of the first. On their own powerplay Nugent-Hopkins found Zach Hyman in his patented spot right beside the goaltender, and Hyman was able to jam the loose puck in. Unfortunately, the Ducks re-extended their lead a minute into the second period on a completely undisciplined turnover behind the Edmonton net. Poehling was allowed to make a centering pass with three defenders on him which left Killhorn wide open for Ducks goal number two.

McDavid got taken down twice in a bad way and was given a penalty shot the second time, but he was unable to convert leaving him at a 4-5 record over his career thusfar.

The Oilers weren’t looking hot at this point, and then suddenly they did. Spencer Stastney scored his first goal of an Oiler off a good redirect play from the slot to tie the game. 90 seconds later McDavid, Hyman, and Ekholm combined forces for a wicked passing play that left the Ducks defense bewildered. McDavid initiated entry into the zone passing to Ekholm, Ekholm sent a quick backwards pass to Hyman and drove towards the net, and Hyman sent the puck straight back to Ekholm for a redirect goal. A minute later Poehling blew a tire by the Oilers blue line leaving the puck cleanly open for Darnell Nurse who sprinted over and fired a shot straight through the goaltender for goal number four. A second turnover forty seconds after that created a two-on-one breakaway where Matthias Ekholm scored his second of the night, top corner bar down.

When it rains it pours.

A complete collapse from the Ducks meant they had a large hole to dig out of, and they got close despite what the 7-4 final score would imply.

Mikael Granlund was able to beat Jarry gloveside before the second period ended while Leo Carlsson screened Jarry uncontested by the Edmonton powerkill. Anaheim continued laying it on in the third period and looked like the better team for most of the final frame – Edmonton fell a step behind and were lucky to have a multi-goal lead as a cushion.

Mikael Granlund completed a hat trick after Tristan Jarry lost his footing tracking a cross-seam pass – with five minutes remaining it was now a one goal game, but the feel good story ends for the Ducks there. Connor McDavid added an insurance empty net goal with two minutes left to play, and Matthias Ekholm scored his first career hat trick from behind the Oilers net for a fantastic finish and a final score of 7-4.

The Edmonton Oilers now, again, face the insurmountable challenge of winning three games in a row during the 2025-2026 NHL hockey season. Will they be able to beat the Sharks and finally jump over the hurdle? As of writing the Sharks are currently beating the breaks off the Vancouver Canucks – can Edmonton perhaps win a game on a team that is spending their energy brow beating the worst team in the NHL the night before flying to Edmonton?

Time will tell, but if Edmonton wants to end up in the playoffs without using a wildcard spot it would be nice to win three in a row, perhaps even more than that.