Vasily Podkolzin scored his first as an Oiler while Connor McDavid notched 3 points in the Oilers' 6-2 victory over the New York Rangers.

The Oilers chose a good time to play their best game of the season.

Two days after a dismal loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Oilers rebounded with a dominant full-team effort in a resounding 6-2 thrashing of the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Even without their top two right-wingers, Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson, the Oilers seemed to have cured all the ills that plagued them all season long. Gone were the poor shooting, the shaky goaltending, and the disastrous penalty kill. The Oilers as we thought we knew them were back and firing on all cylinders.

It all started with a dominant first period, outshooting the Rangers 21-9 through the first 20. After all that shooting, the Oilers' first goal came from an unlikely source. Late in the first frame, Leon Draisailt found Vasily Podkolzin, who finally found the back of the net with a hard one-timer for not only his first goal of the season and as an Oiler but his first goal since March 23rd, 2023.

Even later in the first, with just nine seconds remaining, the Oilers picked up another first: their first shorthanded goal since game five of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 18th. Even more remarkably, it came off the stick of Darnell Nurse, in his first game back from a head injury suffered last Saturday in Toronto.

Nurse had a little fun with it, pointing to his head in celebration as the Oilers went up 2-0.

The Rangers pushed back after the first period, outshooting the Oilers 25-19 in the final two frames and getting two goals from Artemi Panarin, but to no avail. Stuart Skinner had one of his best performances of the season, making 32 saves on 34 shots, while the Oilers just kept on scoring.

I won't bore you with the details of all four Oiler goals in the final 40 minutes, but suffice it to say they were feeling it. Leon Draisaitl tied Florida's Sam Reinhart for the league lead in goals with 16, on a gorgeous connection with Connor McDavid, but what else is new:

Evan Bouchard added another in the second to make it 4-1, while Connor McDavid got in on the fun with two goals in the third to close out the game and give the Oilers a much-needed 6-2 victory, their fifth in the past eight games.

Player of the Game: Mattias Janmark

You can keep your Connor McDavids and Leon Draisaitls. The Oilers' best player on Saturday was third-line winger and penalty kill specialist Mattias Janmark.

Janmark was at his best on Saturday night, showing his value as a high-energy forechecker and two-way forward and an absolute menace on a suddenly resurgent Oilers penalty kill that went 3-for-3. He basically singlehandedly created Nurse's shorthanded goal, and topped it off with a nice assist on Bouchard's second period marker.

Somehow, Janmark is third among Oilers forwards in five-on-five points this season. Who knew?

Play of the Game

I may have broken with tradition and named Janmark the Oilers' player of the game, but Connor McDavid just won't be denied. He made Edmonton's final goal their prettiest, outwaiting the entire Rangers' defence to score his second of the night.

With this win, the Oilers can feel good about themselves as they head into a five-day break. They'll get back to it on Friday November 29th, when they pay their first-ever visit to Utah.

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