EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Oilers seem to be waking up from their latest traditional slumberous start to a season.<\/p>\n
Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist as the Oilers exploded out of the gate to a 4-0 lead after the first period, and beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first 40 was probably the best we\u2019ve played all year,\u201d Draisaitl said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when you go up like that, the third period can be challenging, but all in all it was a deserving win. We look a lot more connected, we look a lot faster. We\u2019re looking to take steps and continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captain Connor McDavid had a pair of assists and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matthew Savoie, Curtis Lazar and David Tomasek also scored for the Oilers (13-11-5) who have won three of their last four, including a massive 9-4 win over Seattle on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Oilers scored three or more goals in four consecutive regulation periods for the first time since 1986.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first two periods was 10 out of 10, I loved a lot of things,\u201d said Oilers head coach Kris Knobluach. \u201cOffensively, I thought we created a lot. Just the confidence with the puck, we were moving it fast and then defensively, I don\u2019t think we gave up very much in the first 40.\u201d<\/p>\n
Draisaitl said it appears the team, which went 6-6-2 in November, is starting to emerge from its early-season struggles. <\/p>\n
Edmonton started last season 5-5-1 in October, but reached the Stanley Cup final and lost to the Florida Panthers a second year in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants to start the way we have the past couple of years,\u201d Draisaitl said. \u201cWe want to get off to better starts, but at the end of the day there is an underlying confidence within our group that we know how to play. We just have to do it more often at the start of the year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t able to do that, so hopefully we can continue to string them together here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nugent-Hopkins said recovery from a slow start is all about hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always believe that we are going to find it, but it\u2019s never something that we think is going to automatically happen,\u201d said the veteran, who has six points in four games since returning from injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that it\u2019s going to take a lot of work. Sometimes you think that you\u2019re working and it\u2019s not happening and that can get frustrating. But I think when we stick together as a group inside this room, that\u2019s when good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Oilers may want to consider a permanent change to their third jerseys. <\/p>\n
In the three games they have played in them this season, they\u2019ve outscored opponents 21-9.<\/p>\n
Stuart Skinner made 19 saves to collect the win in net for the Oilers.<\/p>\n
McDavid and Draisaitl continued to pile of up the points. Since the beginning of November, McDavid has 11 goals and 17 assists in 17 games, while Draisaitl seven goals and a dozen assists in his last 11.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2025.<\/p>\n
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 The Edmonton Oilers seem to be waking up from their latest traditional slumberous start to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-330459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}