In Edmonton, Tyson Barrie hit for a double, and the Oilers scored four times in the second period to rout the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-3, on Saturday night.
The Oilers have an active eight-game point streak.
“I thought we responded really well after a tight game against Columbus where we only got one point against them and played really well (3-2 overtime loss on Wednesday),” Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said. “I thought we played well and got an important two points, and we’re feeling good going into the (All-Star) break.”
The Oilers improved to 28-18-4.
Jack Campbell made 25 saves in the Edmonton win.
Campbell stepped out of the crease with under three minutes left in the third period, he was replaced by emergency back-up the third period to Matt Berlin,.
“The whole day was a whirlwind, but the finish to the day was unbelievable,” Berlin said. “Something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”
T he Blackhawks dropped to 15-29-4.
Barrie’s first goal gave the Oilers a 1-0 lad in the first period.
“I didn’t think we were great right off the bat,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I thought we were better as it went on in the first period. We took it over in the second period, but there were still a couple of things I’d like to clean up.
“But our team is 10-3-2 since the Christmas break, and you couldn’t script it better for us. I think we’ve taken a step here, and that’s a credit to our players.”
Jason Dickinson tied for the Blackhawks, 1-1, and then house fell in on them.
Leon Draisaitl scored off the power play for a 2-1 lead to the Oilers.
“Our power play was good again against a penalty kill that’s been really good of late,” McDavid said. “We found a way to get two goals and kind of got us going, but [Campbell] did a great job for us again, and we can’t forget about that. He played a great game in the first half and really kept us in there.”
Barrie and Connor McDavid scored to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead.
Hyman added the fourth goal of the frame for a 5-1 lead headed to the third.
“It seems, especially this year, we pre-scout them and we know what they’re going to do and they still seem to be able to do it,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “They’re really good at it. Unfortunately, if we would have been able to get one of those penalty kills, those two goals just got us off our game plan and got us spread out, whereas in the last two games we were well-connected.
“In the second period we started to spread out, and they just feast on that when you don’t play your game plan.”
Jonathan Toews scored ahead of the midway point of the third period to trim the Oilers lead to 5-2, but Evander Kane scored for a 6-2 advantage to Edmonton.
“We had a great start, and maybe we stopped skating a little bit or as much as we were in the first period,” Toews said. “They made some nice plays, too, but it would have been nice to control it a little bit more in the second. It was kind of a make-or-break period.”
Ryan McLeod scored in the 15th minute of the third for a 7-2 lead to the Oilers.
Chicago got a lipstick goal from Taylor Raddysh for the 7-3 fnal.
“I thought we started the game well,” Raddysh said. “In the first period we were right there with them, then in the second we got off to a slow start and they got four goals and we fell behind. It was a bit of a trickle down situation, and we just have to try and bounce back when we get into situations like that.”
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Petr Mrazek made 36 saves in the Chicago loss.
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