In a season already full of several ups-and-downs, the Edmonton Oilers delivered a big “up” Saturday night. Jujhar Khaira scored twice as the Oilers pounded the Montreal Canadiens 6-2.
It’s the Oilers fifth win in their last eight games as they improve to 12-15-2 on the season.
The Oilers were able to prevent a Canadiens clearing attempt to set up their first goal. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins flipped a pass to Mike Cammalleri, who beat Carey Price for his first goal as an Oiler. Less than four minutes, Ryan Strome knocked down Price’s clearing attempt and nudged a pass to Khaira. Khaira wrapped the puck in before Price could get back in the net.
“It started off with a huge penalty kill and I think we were able to gain a lot of momentum from that,” said Milan Lucic. “We were challenged by the coaching staff to make this goaltender work, because he’s the best guy in the game. And we did that here tonight.”
Khaira scored again 1:11 into the second period, then Milan Lucic made it 4-0 on the power play 1:13 later. It was the Oilers first power play goal in nine games. Price was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots and replaced by Antti Niemi. The Canadiens got one back on a power play of their own when Alex Galchenyuk knifed in a pass from Jeff Petry.
“I think playing the last few games, I’ve built confidence over time and have a lot of confidence from my teammates,” explained Khaira. “There’s always words of encouragement and having that by your side you go out there with a lot of confidence. The team played great today it showed up on the scoreboard.”
The offence kept rolling in the third. Oscar Klefbom scored an early power play goal, then Johann Auvitu struck 30 seconds later to make it 6-1. Phillip Danault added a late goal for the Canadiens.
Leon Draisaitl assisted on Lucic’s goal for his first power play point of the season. Strome and Connor McDavid both had two assists. Laurent Brossoit made 22 saves for the win in net.
“Everyone stepped up and contributed and that’s how we’re going to get wins if we want to get ourselves back into playoff pictures,” said Lucic. “All 20 guys going to same way, and bringing their game night in and night out.”
The Oilers visit Toronto on Sunday. Catch the game on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 3:30 p.m. The game will start at 5 p.m.
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