GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Utah 1

EDMONTON, AB – See U(tah) next year.

The Edmonton Oilers concluded 2024 with a 4-1 victory over Utah Hockey Club on New Year's Eve, bouncing back from back-to-back weekend defeats to ring in the new year at Rogers Place on a winning note.

Connor Brown and Connor McDavid both had two assists for the Oilers to push their respective point streaks to five and 12 games, picking up the helpers on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' and Troy Stecher's tallies that came 20 seconds apart during the second period. Brown has five assists over his five-game point streak and nine points (3G, 6A) in his last nine games.

"I feel back to where I was pre-injury," he said. "I feel I was playing pretty limited minutes at those times, but since the Trade Deadline last year, I feel that I've taken a few steps forward offensively, but I'm feeling good.

"I love playing in this city. I love playing in front of these fans on this team. As a group, we're trying to take steps forward."

Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season and added an assist on Leon Draisaitl's empty-netter late in regulation, giving the German his league-leading 27th goal of the season.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 26 saves on 27 shots, while Vasily Podkolzin and Ty Emberson each added assists.

The Oilers enter 2025 with a 22-12-3 overall record, having won 12 of their last 15 games (12-2-1) as they look toward their first challenge of the new year on Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers arrived at Rogers Place on New Year's Eve with more fireworks than their opponents after opening the scoring on Mattias Ekholm's sixth goal of the season that the Swedish defenceman powered home from the left circle 4:26 into the first period.

On a strong second shift from Edmonton's second line, Viktor Arvidsson cycled the puck with Leon Draisaitl before getting it to the blue line for Evan Bouchard to let go of a shot on goal with Vasily Podkolzin parked in front to provide the screen.

The Russian winger knocked the puck down and pushed it into space for a wide-open Ekholm to tee up an unbeatable effort over the right shoulder of Utah goalie Jaxson Stauber that gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead.

The Oilers ended the first period with more shots (15) than their first two periods combined in Anaheim (13), but they wouldn't be able to escape to the intermission with their lead.

Just over a minute-and-a-half later, former Edmonton Oil Kings forward Dylan Guenther floated a pass on the rush to Jack McBain, who beat Stuart Skinner under the right arm to tie the game at 1-1 on his side's first goal in Oil Country as the Utah Hockey Club.

SECOND PERIOD

Connor Brown's New Year's resolution? Keep doing what he's been doing in recent games.

The Oilers winger picked up two assists as the Oilers struck twice in a 20-second span near the five-minute mark of the second period to take a 3-1 advantage over Utah, who were lucky not to be down bigger heading into the final period of Oilers hockey in 2024.

"I think we just started to push," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We kept the foot down and I think it kind of started with [Janmark's] line there, and then we got rewarded for being able to put two in."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins knocked down Mikhail Sergachev's attempted forward pass to create an odd-man situation for the visitors in their own end, leaving the puck for Brown to get it down low to McDavid, who set up No. 93 at the back door for an easy tap-in to score his eighth of the season and his second goal in as many games against Utah.

The Oilers are 6-0-1 this season when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scores a goal.

"I thought we made some good plays," Brown said. "We hunted the puck. Obviously, it's nice to get some results and a couple that go in, but it's just a lot of fun. Anytime you can get out there with [McDavid], he creates a lot of room, so it was enjoyable."

Brown's move to the top line continued to pay off on the next shift, where the winger offloaded a pass to Troy Stecher coming into the offensive zone for the defenceman to fire a puck on net that pinballed its way through to put the Oilers up 3-1 less than half a minute later.

"I thought we kind of got away from it against Anaheim, obviously, but we got back on track tonight," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I thought for the full 60, we were just solid, hard to play against and created a lot, but it definitely starts in the D-zone. It's a funny cliché always, but we keep things simple and it works out for us, so that's our mindset."

With the secondary assist, McDavid notched his second helper of the period to extend his point streak to 12 games (2G, 20A) while passing Mark Messier (1,034) for the third-most points in franchise history. Stecher's second goal of the season gave the Oilers the second-most goals scored from defenceman this season with 24 – a 20 percent goal share from blueliners that trails only the Columbus Blue Jackets (25).

Stecher was called for tripping later in the period to send Utah to the power play, where they had their only real offensive opportunity of the middle stanza by when Sergachev struck the right post through traffic on a shot that Skinner couldn't track in the Oilers' crease.

Edmonton outshot Utah 16-7 in the middle frame and led 3-1 after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Time to drop that ball.

With Utah's net empty late in regulation, Leon Draisaitl took a terrific blueline-to-blueline pass from defenceman Ty Emberson to walk in uncontested and slide in his 27th goal of the season that wrapped up 2024 for the Blue & Orange with a 4-1 victory.