GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Jets 2

EDMONTON, AB – Are we living in an 'alternate' reality?

Wearing their cream-coloured alternate jerseys for the second straight game, the Edmonton Oilers cruised to another high-scoring victory on Saturday night, finding the back of the net six times in a 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets and amassing 15 total goals over back-to-back home wins at Rogers Place.

"We look a lot more connected, we look a lot faster," Leon Draisaitl said post-game. "Obviously, we're looking to take steps and continue to get better. Sometimes, you lose confidence in your own ability and the ability of the group a little bit, and then it takes a little lull to get out of it."

"Hopefully, we can string a couple together here."

In three games wearing their alternate jerseys this season, the Oilers have amassed 21 goals over nine periods against Utah, Seattle and Winnipeg and will wear the uniform next on Dec. 23 in the Battle of Alberta on home ice against the Calgary Flames.

The Oilers spread out their scoring on Saturday, with 13 players getting on the stat sheet against the Jets. Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard each recorded a goal & assist, while Connor McDavid contributed two helpers in Edmonton's seventh home victory that improved their overall record this season to 13-11-5.

Matt Savoie scored in a second straight game and has three goals in his last two contests after notching his sixth goal of the season to reach the 10-point mark in his rookie campaign as part of a four-goal opening frame for the Oilers. Curtis Lazar and David Tomasek also scored for the Oilers, and goaltender Stuart Skinner picked up his 10th win of the season by making 19 saves on 21 shots.

Edmonton's four-goal first period was the fourth straight regulation period where they scored three or more goals, marking the first time they've accomplished the feat since scoring three or more goals in four straight periods from Oct. 21-22, 1986.

The Oilers will be back on home ice on Tuesday when they welcome the Buffalo Sabres to Rogers Place to continue their five-game homestand.

JUMPING ALL OVER THE JETS

With the Jets running on fumes for the second game of their home-and-away back-to-back set this weekend, the Oilers had plenty of extra fuel to burn after a nine-goal explosion against the Kraken on Thursday, and they were well on their way to a similar showing after 20 minutes on Saturday at Rogers Place.

The Oilers' dominance of the Jets on Hockey Night in Canada while wearing their cream-coloured alternate jerseys for the second straight game started just 180 seconds into the contest after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins converted the easy finish off his linemate Connor McDavid's perfect shot-pass for the 1-0 lead.

Zach Hyman took a hit at the blueline from Dylan Samberg and pushed it into the path of McDavid coming over the blueline, unleashing the Oilers' captain with space to exploit before he side-stepped a challenge from Josh Morrissey and fired a shot-pass on goal that Nugent-Hopkins put away on the rebound.

With the assist on Nugent-Hopkins' seventh goal of the campaign, McDavid now has points in 22 of his last 24 games (10G, 34A) against Winnipeg and leads all active Oilers in career points against the franchise by recording his 60th (12G, 48A) in his 36th career meeting with them.

The Oilers increased their advantage to 2-0 just 1:37 later when Evan Bouchard made one of his best dishes of the season to spring Leon Draisaitl on a breakaway that the German put away on the backhand for his third goal in four games and 17th goal of the season, tying him for sixth in the NHL.

Draisaitl forced Samberg with his pressure at the blueline to scrape a long shot towards Edmonton's net that was knocked down by Bouchard, who quickly dropped it to his stick and threw a perfect pass up the middle to No. 29 for a breakaway after carrying his line into the neutral zone.

The German finished with a backhand past the netminder Eric Comrie – the Edmonton product who was playing on back-to-back nights for the Jets with Connor Hellebuyck out with an injury – before mouthing "What a pass, Bouch!" and pointing down the ice to his teammate for making a terrific play.

After adding an assist later in the opening frame, Draisaitl is now just eight points away from achieving 1,000 career points, and two goals away from passing Glenn Anderson (417) for third-most in franchise history behind only Jari Kurri (474) and Wayne Gretzky (583).

From 415 career goals for Draisaitl to now six for rookie winger Matt Savoie, who notched his third goal in two games at 13:36 of the opening frame to give the Oilers an early 3-0 lead and continue the best stretch of the St. Albert product's young career.

After the Oilers entered the Jets' zone, the puck changed hands through Leon Draisaitl, to Vasily Podkolzin, and then to Mattias Ekholm before the Swede's shot was kicked to the left side by Comrie, where Savoie was following a route to the Winnipeg net before the puck hit him on its way into Winnipeg's net.

"He's got really good hockey sense, but obviously, he's got a great motor on him," Draisaitl said. "It seems to never stop. He can really skate. He's going to find his spots."

Savoie picked up his sixth goal of the year and 10th point to officially become the 74th rookie in Oilers franchise history to record 10-plus points in their rookie campaign – the first since Ryan McLeod during the 2021-22 campaign.

"I think it's starting to go in for him," Nugent-Hopkins said. "The points are starting to come a little bit more for him, but I think his work ethic and just the way that he sees the game have been there all year. At first, they just kind of weren't going in, and he's a young kid, so you got to pick your spots and learn the game a little bit.

"He's such a smart player, and he's a dog on a bone. He's relentless, great on the forecheck, and good around the net, so it's nice to see it come for him."

To finish off a perfect opening period from the hosts, Bouchard capped off a terrific passing play between Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid on Edmonton's opening power play at 6:29 of the frame for his fifth goal of the season to make it a commanding 4-0 lead for the Oilers.

Nugent-Hopkins moved it low to McDavid before his predictable cross-ice feed to Draisaitl in the right circle pulled Comrie out of position and out of the blue paint as Zach Hyman stood as still as possible in front of the crease, trying not to move in case it meant he'd commit goaltender interference.

Instead of ripping the one-timer, Draisaitl passed it off to Bouchard for the blueliner to place a routine wrist shot into the back of a wide-open Winnipeg net, with Comrie lying out in No Man's Land along with two Jets' defenders following the sweet showing of passing from Edmonton's top power-play unit.

Bouchard's tally was his fifth goal and the 60th goal of his career to give the Oilers a four-goal lead and full control on the Jets after 20 minutes

COME SEE THE LAZAR SHOW

The last goal that Curtis Lazar scored in Oil Country was during Game 6 of the 2014 WHL Championship at Rexall Place, when he was a member of the eventual Ed Chynoweth & Memorial Cup-winning Edmonton Oil Kings as a highly-touted first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators.

But 11 years on, he's officially got his first at Rogers Place with the Edmonton Oilers, getting an extended opportunity in recent games and having adapted his game into being a bottom-six role player.

"It's the NHL, it's the best league in the world," Lazar said. "The ins and outs of the season, the travel, the games – nothing's easy in this league. For myself, it's about how I could stay relevant, how I could make a difference and how I could keep on going. I'm 30 now. I'm old after breaking in as a 19-year-old. The game has changed so much, and I think for myself it just kind of adapts with the game, understanding what I can do to carve out a role, how to get the trust from the coach, and just contribute in any way I can."

The 30-year-old scored his first Oilers goal back on Oct. 18 during his club debut in a loss to the New Jersey Devils, and after the Jets had a goal disallowed by a coach's challenge for offside, he was able to extend the lead to 5-0 with his first home goal less than three minutes into the middle frame.

Lazar ripped a wrist shot from the slot under the arm of netminder Thomas Milic, who replaced Comrie to begin the second period, after Mattias Janmark set him up from the right corner to give the Swedish forward points in back-to-back games. Additionally, it was Lazar's first-career goal against the Jets and matched his goal total from last season, when he scored two goals and three assists in 48 games for the Devils.

The Salmon Arm, BC product now has two goals in 13 appearances with the Oilers this season and has suited up in the last four games because of injuries to Kasperi Kapanen and Jack Roslovic, having also battled through injury earlier in the campaign.

"You can't take a single day for granted," Lazar said. "When you get the call, you want to be able to do a job. I know what I can offer and how I can help a team win, and I was glad to take that next step tonight."

"It doesn't matter if your minutes are limited or whatnot; you still want to make the most of your opportunities," he said. "A lot of that for me is face-offs, defending and the penalty kill, but I do have some offensive side as well. So to get some confidence, and especially our line, too, you can see we're making plays. We're looking for each other and it's something to build off."

Defenceman Ty Emberson, playing his 100th career game with the Oilers, notched the secondary assist to give him five helpers and six points on the season.

NO SHUTOUT FOR STU

It was a quiet night for Stuart Skinner between the pipes through 40 minutes, needing to make a combined nine saves in the first and second periods, before the Jets scored twice in the third to bookend another tally from David Tomasek in a 6-2 victory for the Oilers on Saturday night.

Kyle Connor made a good move around Evan Bouchard four minutes into the final frame before Gabriel Vilardi finished a back-door pass from Mark Scheifele to ruin the shutout bid for Skinner, making it 5-1 for the Oilers. However, Skinner wasn't deterred, coming right back on the next big sequence for the Jets to make a terrific back-door save against Vlasislav Namestnikov.

Following Saturday's win, Skinner & Pickard have now made a combined 97 saves on 103 shots over Edmonton's last four games.

"You need them to make those big ones at times, and even if you're rolling along, there's still going to be chances on the other side of it," Nugent-Hopkins said. "So it's nice to see them kicking for us, and I feel like we're not hanging them out to dry as much lately, so it obviously makes a big difference."

The Jets did add another one on a lucky bounce and wraparound for Cole Koepke late in regulation, but that came after David Tomasek made it 6-1 for Edmonton, when Trent Frederic's turnover allowed the Czech forward to notch his third goal of the season from the slot in his return to the lineup Saturday.

With the 6-2 victory, the Oilers have now scored 14 goals since their 9-4 win over Seattle earlier this week. The last time they scored that many over a two-game span was December 12-14, 2024, when they scored 13 times, and they've now put together four solid performances in a row.

"It's what you want to see and how you want to respond, but it just comes down to sticking to it and not getting frustrated," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We had some good looks in that Minny game, but they didn't go in. Then we kind of exploded the other night and followed up on it, so a lot of things to like tonight."

"I think we're starting to get that feeling back," Nugent-Hopkins added. "I thought even on that road trip, I wasn't there, but the last few games, it was starting to come. You could see the way that we want to play creeping into our game, and it's never gonna go super smooth, but we know what we're capable of and it takes a lot of work. We're at our best when it's simple and we're working hard, and then our skill takes over from there."