The Edmonton Oilers are on a two-game winning streak after defeating the Nashville Predators 4-2 at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday (Oct. 17).
Edmonton defenceman Brett Kulak had a pair of goals, while Connor McDavid and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Oilers, who rallied from an early 1-0 deficit. Nashville got one goal each from Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault.
Goaltender Calvin Pickard made 23 saves in Edmonton’s winning effort. Nashville netminder Juuse Saros turned aside 32 of the 35 shots he faced.
After opening the season with three consecutive losses, the Oilers are now 2-3-0. Here are five takeaways from Thursday’s victory in Music City.
Kulak Has Career Night
Kulak opened and closed the scoring for the Oilers. He fired a shot through traffic past Saros to tie the game at 1-1 late in the first period, then put the Predators away with an empty-net goal at 19:24 of the third period.
Before Thursday, Kulak had appeared in 502 regular season games and 76 playoff contests in his NHL career, and never scored more than once in any of them.
Thanks to his scoring outburst, Kulak currently has more goals so far this season than McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman combined.
Hyman Still Pointless
After scoring 56 times in 2023-24, Hyman is without a goal so far this season. In fact, the veteran forward has yet to collect a single point through five games, his longest pointless streak since signing with the Oilers as a free agent during the 2021 offseason.
But while he was unable to get off the schneid on Thursday, Hyman easily played his best game of the season in Nashville. He led all players with five shots on goal, equalling his total from Edmonton’s first four games, and finished the night with a plus-2 rating. The winger, who is known for scoring greasy goals, was around the Nashville net all night.
If Hyman keeps that up, it won’t be long before he’s lighting the lamp on the regular again. His next point will be No. 400 in the regular season of his NHL career.
Pickard Picks up His Play
Pickard is another Oiler who had something of a return to form on Thursday. For the first time this fall, the 32-year-old resembled the rock-solid backup who went 12-7-1 with a 2.45 goals-against average (GAA) and .909 save percentage (SV%) last season.
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