“The team who won the Cup last year, they are playing like that. Sometimes it's boring, but it works.” — Vasily Podkolzin.
SAN JOSE — For the first time Saturday, we saw what head coach Mike Babcock and these Oilers are trying to accomplish in Edmonton.
Two high-flying, run ‘n’ gun teams met at The Shark Tank in San Jose, and split up just 40 shots and four goals in a meat-grinder of a 3-1 win for the nearly flawless Edmonton Oilers.
Podkolzin rifled home the winner on a drop pass from Connor McDavid early in the third period of a 1-0 game, his fifth snipe in five games this season. But this one wasn’t about the chances created as much as it was about the chances denied.
Tristan Jarry proved that behind a proper defensive environment he could provide proper NHL goaltending, beaten only on a bar-down laser beam by Macklin Celebrini, who was stifled by Edmonton’s defensive effort.
An Oilers team that has shown its defensive prowess for no more than 40 minutes in any given game thus far in the 2026-27 campaign, put in its first 60-minute effort. It was too much for the young Sharks.
“The whole system is a little different,” explained Podkolzin. “The main point is a little different, and the way we play — in the D zone or neutral zone — is way different than we played before. Like I can say, that's boring sometimes, and feeling weird sometimes. But it works.”
Boring?
Well, Los Angeles Kings fans loved their dead boring teams in 2012 and 2014 — because they bored their way to two Stanley Cups.
On Saturday, the shots after 40 minutes were 12-8 for San Jose. It ended at 20-20, with Jarry making a nice dent in a save percentage that took a beating in his only previous start, a 6-5 overtime loss to the Canucks.
“You didn't generate anything off the rush tonight,” Babcock said. “So we had to do it the hard way in the end. We scored a rush goal, but it was after some heavy O-zone play and we got a counter. But Jars (Jarry) played great and gave us a chance on the road, and that's all you can ask.”
This is a team that has always won its regular season games on talent and offence. Then, when the playoffs came, they also found the recipe for grinding out playoff wins in May and June — well enough to get to two Cups.
But in the end, the hard-checking game played by Florida beat the Oilers, plain and simple.
We are five games into this season, and we’re already seeing a different approach.
A pair of 3-1 wins over Seattle and San Jose. A run of three games now with only one even-strength goal allowed, and just four goals surrendered in total.
They’re averaging 23.2 shots on goal against through five games, compared to 26.7 last season. And they’re doing it without an entire second line, though Zach Hyman is said to be ready to play Tuesday in Los Angeles, leaving just Matt Savoie and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the injured list.
“We have the offence to score every night. We all know that,” said checker Mathieu Joseph, who sprung Alex Formenton for the breakaway goal that made it 3-0. “The recipe in this league is to play good defence, and when you limit the chances, you frustrate the best player on the other team, and you're disciplined with your plays and your penalties, that's how you win.”
Babcock has spoken much of empowering the lower end of his lineup, and on this night it was rookie centre Owen Michaels who owned Celebrini in the faceoff circle throughout the night. Michaels won 10 of 12 draws (83 per cent), while Celebrini went six and 10 (38 per cent).
Michaels' line with Formenton and Joseph was superb, and the fourth line of Josh Samanski between Trent Frederic and Ike Howard created the game-opening goal by winning a board battle and feeding Mattias Ekholm for a blast.
It was impressive, a complete four-line game against an explosive Sharks team that was simply denied ignition.
Five games into the Mike Babcock era, Oilers fans got a glimpse of what it’s supposed to look like, though there is clearly a long road ahead.
“We think we can be way better,” Babcock said. “So if you can be way better, why wouldn't you be way better? I mean, (Jason) Dickinson's starting to get his legs, so he's getting to be an important piece again. As we get more guys back — I think Hymes (Hyman) is showing up next game — we should get to be a deeper team and a much better team.”
And here’s a question Oilers fans haven’t had to deal with often: Who would you start in goal Tuesday in Los Angeles?
Both goalies are coming off of excellent outings.
Who knew this was possible?
Spec’s Checks — Since the 2020-21 season, no team has felt Edmonton’s wrath more than San Jose, which now has a 2-18-0 record against the Oilers. Surely that dominance will change, as the Sharks emerge from their rebuild … McDavid matches the hottest start in his career through five games with 13 points … On this day — October 10, 1979 — Edmonton played its first NHL game, losing 4-2 to Blackhawks at the old Chicago Stadium … Playing in his 799th career game, McDavid passes Darnell Nurse for the seventh most games played in Oilers franchise history … With an assist Saturday, Evan Bouchard became the third defenceman in NHL history to record at least a dozen points through his first five games of a season, alongside Harry Cameron (9-6-15 in 1917-18) and Morgan Rielly (3-9-12 in 2018-19).
