Defensive numbers trending up and the Matt Savoie and Isaac Howard debate
It’s a good time to be an Edmonton Oilers fan again, with the team outscoring Seattle and Winnipeg by a combined score of 15-6 over the last two games.The Oilers are once again getting depth scoring as bottom six forwards Mattias Janmark, Curtis Lazar, and David Tomášek have found the back of the net over those two games, to say nothing of the top six forwards outside of the McDrai duo who have also contributed — Vasily Poskolzin, Zach Hyman, Matt Savoie (three), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Evan Bouchard from the blue line — and that’s just the goals.Other players such as Ty Emberson, Mattias Ekholm (three), Adam Henrique (two), Trent Frederic, Andrew Mangiapane have collected assists in that time. Putting the weight of scoring only on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s shoulders was never going to be a recipe for success, as the Oilers needed the rest of the wingers to step up their game and the depth scoring to contribute in a complementary way – and so far that’s what’s happening. There’s a lot to like defensively, too. Leon Draisaitl has gotten even better, going from 1 earlier in the season to 6. Connor McDavid has gone down to -6, which means he’s still got some work to do, but at least he can outscore his mistakes. Bouchard was one........