Kane saves the day as Oilers flirt with disaster in Anaheim

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There is an understandable droop to contend with when a team shifts emotional gears from having to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions to tie the longest winning streak in NHL history to whatever gear it takes in a half-empty rink against a losing team that wasn’t all that relevant when it was winning.

The Anaheim Ducks, with only two more wins all season than the Edmonton Oilers just won in a row, aren’t a team that scares you, they’re a team that sneaks up on you and makes you call a players-only meeting if they win.

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And with the threat of a post-streak hangover hanging over the Oilers heads, it was an uneasy 60 minutes Friday as they dragged their feet perilously close to a trap that everyone saw coming except them.

Edmonton spent the entire night playing catch up — down 1-0 in the first, 2-1 in the second and 3-2 in the third — and didn’t post its first lead until 50 minutes in.

“We weren’t ready to play our best at the beginning,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, after Evander Kane’s hat-trick, Corey Perry’s greasiness and Calvin Pickard’s goaltending helped the Oilers avoid disaster by edging the hapless Ducks 5-3.

“As the game went on we built up our game, but we had some breakdowns and were under pressure, especially in the first period.”

That the Oilers stomped Anaheim into unrecognizable puddles the last two times they met, winning 8-2 in November and 7-2 on New Year’s Eve, coupled with the fact Anaheim was missing three of its best forwards, made you believe Edmonton would win this game if Connor McDavid started in net and Stuart Skinner centered the first line.

But you needed to see them do the mature thing and deliver a convincing win: Prove that they aren’t going to suffer any sort of post-streak letdown by taking their frustrations out on the poor Ducks. That the victim in this case is a harmless underdog just trying to get through a rebuild didn’t matter. The Oilers needed to show that they hadn’t lost their edge. A blood-letting was in order.

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Instead, for much of the night you couldn’t tell which team fancies itself a Cup contender and which team is sitting 30th in a 32-team league. The Oilers got away with one, but as Knoblauch and his guys have been saying all along, there is a lot of work to do and a lot of hockey left.

FIRST TO WORST

Sure enough, the Oilers eased their way into this game with all of the urgency and intensity of an old man getting into a warm tub. By the midway mark of the first period they were being outshot 10-3 and by the first intermission they were lucky to only be down 1-0.

If not for some fine work from goaltender Calvin Pickard, it’s at least 2-0 or 3-0 Anaheim. If not for Pickard, they lose this game.

“It’s definitely in jeopardy, that’s for sure,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “He stood on his head in the first, especially. He’s been unbelievable ever since he got called up.”

That’s fine. It wasn’t the first time the Oilers started slowly, responded to the wake up call and imposed their will on a game. They did post eight comeback wins during their 16-game winning streak, after all.

SECOND LIFE

That the Oilers gave up a three-on-one in the opening moments of the second period wasn’t a good sign, but two goals from Evander Kane in the middle frame made it 2-2 after 40 minutes.

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Edmonton’s first goal was made possible by some classic Corey Perry. On one of those rare occasions where Perry does something greasy and doesn’t get called, he chopped the stick out of John Gibson’s hands, enabling Kane to take advantage of the stickless netminder to make it 1-1.

“It’s nice to have him on our side,” grinned Draisaitl. “He’s a master at playing the game within the game, he’s done it all his life. On top of that he makes these great plays with the puck.”

The line of Kane, Perry and Draisaitl has the makings of something really good. None of them are fun to play against and together they formed a skilled and gritty attack that tormented the Ducks at every turn in every way.

“It was a good game for us as a line, something to build on for sure,” said Draisaitl. “I thought we created some looks as a line and cashed in, so hopefully we can keep it up and continue to grow.”

Ryan Strome made it 2-1 just 29 seconds later, but another one from Kane squared it with 20 minutes to go.

THIRD AND INCHES

The Ducks made an unexpected goaltending change in the second intermission after Gibson came up lame in the intermission, but it was Edmonton that surrendered a first goal, a power play marker at 3:20. After killing 44 of 47 penalties during the streak, the Oilers allowed two goals on two Ducks power plays.

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Turns out that was the actual wake up call.

Zach Hyman tied it at 8:41 and Draisaitl gave Edmonton its first lead at 10:09 and that was it.

The Ducks pulled their goalie, but without Ryan Kesler there to pull the goalie’s pads apart, they couldn’t find the last-second equalizer. Kane’s empty-netter completed the hat-trick.

“It’s nice coming out of the break and getting on the board early and getting ready for the second half of the season,” said Kane. “And we were coming off a loss so it was a big game, a big two points.”

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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