The Edmonton Oilers survived a wild and crazy visit to Chicago

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Chicago – It may be true that nothing is more dangerous than a wounded animal, but an animal that’s been dead for two weeks isn’t really that much of a threat.

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Or you would think so.

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There’s something about the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks playing at the United Center that draws madness, even if one of the teams is 31st in the NHL and is on a seven-game losing streak.

No matter what happens, this building will always fight to the end.

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The Edmonton Oilers, who have been bruised in recent weeks, were thrown into disarray Wednesday night as they took a three-point lead in the third period.

The Oilers were leading 4–1 with less than eight minutes remaining, conceding two goals in 19 seconds (12:37 and 12:59) and another with 1:11 remaining.

Without the 2v1 insurance magic (from Connor McDavid to Leon Draisaitl), it’s not a 5v4 victory but a catastrophic collapse.

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“They made it fun, but we found a way to win,” said Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft.

After coming back from three runs in the third period to beat the New York Rangers and tie the game with five seconds remaining in regulation, Edmonton face a ferocious comeback attempt after beating Florida in overtime in their final two games. It was my turn.

“They scored that one goal, went on the next shift and gave up another one. You can feel the crowd going crazy for it,” said Oilers winger Matthias. Yanmark said. “I don’t want to give up those goals, but I found a way to win anyway, so that’s good.”

The finish was crazy, but not amazing at all. The Hawks went 4-1-2 in his final seven of home games against Edmonton, but that wild 6-5 when the Oilers were here in October was the only one in his thriller. There was a loss of regulation of They went 9-2-2 in his last 13 home games against the Oilers.

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Winger Jesse Purjujärvi said: “It was a little bit tight at the end, but it’s important to win.” “I’m happy to get those two points. We had some rough games, but now we’ve got some wins. And we’ll do it all over again (Thursday).”

The Oilers improved to 13-10-0 on their first three-game winning streak in a month.

“Running is hard,” said Janmark. “We are not satisfied with our record, we have to keep building it. We are not satisfied with just three wins and a record. We have to win more.”

After a scoreless first period, Edmonton led 2–1 with 40 goals from Drei Saitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and 4–1 in third with 2 goals from McDavid and Matthias Janmark.

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I had to think that was enough.

Unfortunately, Max Domi at 12:37 and MacKenzie Entwistle at 12:56 brought the game back.

Draisaitl’s second shot at 15:21 seemed to seal it, but another shot from Domi at 18:49 added to a wild final second.

The standings are tight and lukewarm, as they were in the first two months of the season in Edmonton, so this is a game they had to win. The Hawks are on a seven-game losing streak, 35-14, and entered Wednesday’s game in a nasty slump.

“We’re in a situation where we’ve lost quite a few games here and it’s not a good feeling,” captain Jonathan Towes said. , we have to get out of there.”

The Oilers have lost Krim Kostin to work visa issues, Warren Fogel, Ryan McLeod and Kyler Yamamoto to injuries, and are in a six-game, 13-day road trip worth of attrition.

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And now they’re staring at what appears to be Thursday’s scheduled defeat in Minnesota.

Wednesday’s game in Chicago started at 8:53 local time and didn’t finish until 11:37. The Oilers didn’t even make it to the airport until after midnight for his 3:30 check-in at the hotel.

can’t buy

Zach Hyman’s tough streak of luck started ten minutes later when he rang one from inside the posts and continued five minutes later when he scored a goal that was disallowed due to goalkeeper interference. . He has had two goals ruled out by video review in his last two games as a goalless drought spans five games.

benson back

Tyler Benson played the first game of the season after being derailed by a knee injury in training camp. Although he successfully forced the team out of camp, he had to shut down for nearly two months.

“I felt he had a really good training camp,” said Woodcroft. “It’s a shame he got injured in the last preseason game. He put a lot of work into rehab and preparation and did well in his American League conditioning duties.

rtychkowski@postmedia.com

@Rob_Tychkowski