Edmonton Oilers v Arizona Coyotes — Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid

3 takeaways from the Edmonton Oilers' 3-2 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues

Modified Feb 29, 2024 16:06 GMT

The Edmonton Oilers continue to play with fire without getting burnt. After stumbling through February, with playoff opponents catching up in the standings, they earned their second consecutive victory (3-2) on Wednesday night with an overtime winner from Connor McDavid against the St. Louis Blues.

After falling behind 2-0 yet again to an opposing team, the Oilers rallied around Zach Hyman's 39th and 40th goal, Stuart Skinner's 32 saves, and McDavid's third game-winner of the season.

Meanwhile, the defeat dropped the Blues (63 points) further down in the wildcard race as they now trail the Nashville Predators by five points.

3 takeaways from the Edmonton Oilers' 3-2 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues

#1. Connor McDavid comes in clutch

Last year, McDavid netted a career-high 64 goals, and before Wednesday night's overtime winner, he was sitting at 21 goals without a lamplighter in 10 games. Despite having 23 assists over that stretch, one of the most feared scorers in the game wasn't beating goalies with his last 28 shots.

As the captain of a Canadian franchise with high expectations of winning the Stanley Cup in June, McDavid registered five points in their past two victories, helping his team rally from deficits against the Los Angeles Kings and Blues to create some much-needed separation in the standings.

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Although Edmonton still have some lineup issues and could use some reinforcements at the NHL Trade Deadline, McDavid has the skills and pedigree to put this team on his back and carry them up the mountain.

Even after collecting his third game-winner of the season, he's far from his 2022-23 (11) total but has plenty of time to catch up to that number with 27 games left.

#2. Zach Hyman is on pace for 55 goals

Before Hyman came to Edmonton, he had a career-high 21 goals with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019 and 2020. Upon arriving in Alberta, he bumped that total to 27 before netting 36 in 2022-23.

Thanks to two goals against the Blues on Wednesday, which sparked a rally from a 2-0 deficit, Hyman reached 40 goals for the first time in his career. However, this isn't the only milestone he could achieve by the season's end.

At his pace of 0.67 goals per game, Hyman could finish the season with 55 goals, becoming only the seventh player in Oilers history to surpass 50 goals.

Moreover, McDavid set up Hyman's two goals, with the captain picking up his 71st and 72th helper. After 55 games, 38.8% of McDavid's assist totals have been to Hyman (28 goals), who should continue to benefit from the captain's vision on the ice.

#3. Edmonton Oilers building momentum for stretch drive

The Oilers won a franchise-best 16 games to start 2024, and then lost the magic. Subsequently, they stumbled into some bad habits that left them with a 5-5-1 record heading into Wednesday night's contest with the Blues.

After beating the Kings on Monday, they bounced back from another deficit to pick up two valuable points. They are only four points ahead of the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference.

Between now and March 10th, Edmonton will only face one team bound for the playoffs, in the form of the Boston Bruins (March 5th), so their upcoming schedule is favorable for a team expected to win the Stanley Cup in a couple of months.

At this stage of the year, points are at a premium as teams who will not attend the postseason begin to play spoilers. The Oilers have to stop giving up early goals, forcing their opposition to chase the game.

The remainder of the regular season won't be easy, and stranger things have happened in the past. Still, the Oilers are not guaranteed a playoff spot yet. If they can continue to eke out wins like this one, anything is possible in April.