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EDMONTON — In The Season of the Hat Trick, the Edmonton Oilers finally got theirs.
As the NHL gleefully counted its 30th hat trick in the month of January Thursday — beating the old record of 29 set in December of 1985 — the late-arriving Oilers capped off a thrilling comeback with a 4-3 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks.
Trailing 2-0 just 1:35 into the game, then 3-0 at the first intermission, the tardy Oilers scored three goals in the third period — two with the goalie pulled — and then won it in overtime on Zach Hyman’s one-timer.
By now, Oilers fans know never to turn off the TV after a rough start. But in this one, Edmonton couldn’t have left it much later, scoring with 3:05 remaining and then 59 seconds left in regulation to push the game into OT.
“We have a lot of great players in the room and we’re never out of a game,” Hyman said after his 22nd goal in 36 games this season. “There is a sense of belief that we can do it.”
A team that won three games in a row seven times over the course of last spring’s playoffs, took 55 games to string three together this season. This was their tenth try at a three-game skein, before the tumblers finally fell into place.
But if we all knew Edmonton would eventually conquer that odd deficiency and pull of three W’s, we also knew that no game is irretrievable when you have this kind of high-end talent — even when the score is 3-0 after 40 minutes.
And you know who else knew it? The young, impressive Sharks, a group that will see its share of wins — but will have to elbow the big dog in the Pacific out of the way first.
“They’re the best offensive team in the world,” said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, the youngest coach in the NHL at just 38. “You have to defend the two best players in the world. We did some good things, and we did some things we could get better at.”
Led by budding superstar Macklin Celebrini (one assist), San Jose is that young team that has broken out of a rebuild to become competitive after six years of missing the playoffs. They’ve learned to be competitive, but now they’ve got to learn how to win — an intangible that the veteran Oilers have in spades over the fuzzy-cheeked Sharks.
“It’s fun to watch,” said Oilers goalie Connor Ingram, who held fort after an early 3-0 deficit. “I’ve kind of figured it out around here: you just have to be good. You don’t have to steal games — you’ve just got to make the saves you’re supposed to.
“When you’ve got some of the best players in the world … when you get behind at the start of the game, you’re just thinking, ‘Shut it down.. We’ve still got a chance at this.’
“We can score goals,” he marvelled. “We can come back on anybody.”
Much like Anaheim, which lost 7-4 in here Monday, all those old stats — like a 14-1 record against the San Jose Sharks in their last 15 meetings before this one — don’t mean anything anymore.
It was fun revenge, these last few years, beating up on the rebuilding Sharks the way Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the boys had mined points out of old Rexall Place during Edmonton’s Decade of Darkness.
But the fun stops here for the Oilers, who learned the hard way that they’ll actually have to work for points when they play the Sharks from here on in, a lesson learned quickly Thursday night at Rogers Place.
“I like that we stuck with it,” Hyman said, “but obviously we can clean up lots. That’s just what comes with being more urgent and competitive. They outworked us for two periods.”
The beauty of being the Oilers, however, is when you can ice a six-on-five unit that includes Connor McDavid (1-1-2), Leon Draisaitl (1-2-3), Evan Bouchard (1-2-3), Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mattias Ekholm, even opposing NHL players are intimidated to some degree.
“I’m sure it’s terrifying,” said Kasperi Kapanen. “I’ve been on the other side of it, and when you’ve got world-class players like that putting pressure on you for an extended period of time, I feel like eventually it’s going to go in.”
“We have elite players who can score and are dangerous,” said Hyman. “I’m sure a lot of the young guys coming up watched Connor and Leon and idolized them as kids, the same way we did with Sid.
“But Celebrini is a superstar, so I don’t know if there is necessarily an intimidation factor. A lot of those guys have turned the corners quickly in their careers. They’re not just young guys, they’re real players.”
Real players who learned the hard way Thursday, that you can’t let this Oilers team up off the mat.
They’ll figure it out, and a night like this will help get San Jose to the top again.
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