The Edmonton Oilers seem to be finding their mojo at just the right time down the stretch, and they need to keep that momentum going to secure a playoff spot and, despite the rollercoaster of a season, still have a chance to capture their first division title since the 1986-87 season.

They’re riding a three-game winning streak, and in this edition of Oilers Thoughts, we’ll cover Matt Savoie and Josh Samanski stepping up, meeting Ty Emberson’s high school hockey coach on the Nation Vacation, Kris Knoblauch finding the right mix for the second line, and a potential adjustment to the Oilers’ struggling power play.

Matt Savoie is scoring and soaring

Matt Savoie found success after earning a promotion to the first line with Connor McDavid on March 13 against the St. Louis Blues, recording three points in the next three games.

However, following a 4–0 shutout loss to the Florida Panthers, head coach Kris Knoblauch pushed ‘max speed’ on the line blender, dropping Savoie to the bottom six for the next game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which made me shake my fist furiously at the T.V and write that the rookie should’ve stayed on the first line.

But Knoblauch went back to what worked, and over the last three games, Savoie has been back alongside McDavid on the top line and has been on fire, scoring three goals, including a shorthanded goal and the game-winner in the last game against the Anaheim Ducks. Moreover, that line as a whole — Savoie, McDavid, and Vasily Podkolzin — have looked dominant, outshooting the opposition 22–10 over the last three games.

That said, in my view, the most impressive of Savoie’s three goals over the last stretch was the tally against the Vegas Golden Knights. He read what his captain was going to do, found open space, lifted a defender’s stick while doing so, received the puck and sniped one short side. That’s a confident play — one that, to me, shows he’s starting to figure out netminders’ sweet spots at the NHL level.

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Also, one thing that didn’t get much attention was the amazing play from the St. Albert native to set the entire sequence in motion — Savoie won a board battle with a stick lift, freed the puck, and kicked it to Walman to start the play, just 13 seconds before he scored, as shown below.

Photo courtesy of NHL.com

The photo above is just a small example of the subtle, but key plays the 22-year-old makes night in and night out that don’t always draw a lot of attention.

Nevertheless, it’s a revelation for the Oilers to finally have a young player, on an entry-level contract, come in........

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