Oilers bring down Capitals, Connor Brown brings down the house

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Nothing like a show of force to remind everyone who you are.

After a 1-1-1 sag that included a regulation loss in Columbus and an overtime defeat in Buffalo, the Edmonton Oilers wasted no time flexing their muscle Wednesday at the expense of the overwhelmed Washington Capitals.

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Not only was it convincing from start to finish, it was the feel-good win of the season with everything falling into place on all fronts.

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Zach Hyman picked up a hat trick. Leon Draisaitl notched four points. Connor McDavid finished with three. The power play went three-for-four. Stuart Skinner put Alex Ovechkin in his hip pocket.

All of it added up to a rousing 7-2 win.

But the perfect ending came in garbage time when Connor Brown absolutely brought down the house with his long-awaited first goal as an Oiler.

It had to be the biggest ovation for the seventh goal in a 7-2 game in the history of the NHL. But on an evening when there was plenty to roar about, Brown’s doorstep deflection off his skate generated the mightiest one.

“The building was loud, that’s one of the loudest times I’ve heard the building,” smiled Hyman. “Everybody was really happy for him. It’s not easy coming to a new team, coming off of injury. There are so many looks that should have gone in for him.”

This one, a two-on-one with Evander Kane 64 games into the season, finally did. It brought Rogers Place and the Oilers bench to its feet as the snake-bitten free-agent signing finally ended his brutal drought.

“It meant a lot,” said Brown, who hadn’t scored since March of 2022, prior to the knee injury that cost him all but four games last season as a member, as fate would have it, of the Capitals.

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“You play in a big market like this, they’re aware of the storylines. It means a lot. It’s been a struggle this year offensively. I haven’t been able to get one to go. For their support to shine through there, they’re rooting for me, it was a good feeling.”

It’s another example of why players in Edmonton marvel at the fan support here. I’m not sure you get a scene like that in many other markets, but Rogers Place came through again.

Brown admitted being somewhat taken aback by the reaction. Fans always cheer a goal, but to be the recipient of a long standing ovation for ending a personal drought on a new team really struck a chord.

“I scored a big one in Toronto at the end of the year in my rookie season for my 20th and it was a pretty big thing, but I think this one would take the cake,” grinned Brown. “It’s amazing when you get the feeling that this town is behind you with that kind of support.

“That’s huge for a player. It’s huge for me to build off that momentum and keep it rolling.”

If you’re Brown, or anyone else on the team, how does a scene like that not light a fire under you?

“It’s pretty cool to see,” said Draisaitl. “Obviously it hasn’t been an easy couple of years for him, but I actually think he’s been playing some amazing hockey and sometimes unfortunately, it just gets harder and harder as time goes on.

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“But very happy to see him score and I wouldn’t be surprised if he opened the floodgates a little bit.”

Brown can’t undo the 63 games that preceded Wednesday’s storybook finish, but there is still time to do something about the rest of the runway that’s ahead of him. If it’s true that sometimes the first one really does unlock the floodgates, maybe this story gets even better down the stretch.

“I believed in myself,” he said. “I know that I can build from that and gain some confidence with the puck in scoring areas. It’s nice to get that now, at the right time of year, and start rolling.”

He appreciates that his other work — forechecking and penalty killing — are noticed by his coaches and teammates, but he also knows that part of the reason the Oilers brought him here was to help out offensively. One goal is a start, but he believes there are more to come.

“I’ve scored 20 multiple times in my career so I would say (scoring) is a big part of my game. I was never OK with not scoring. I wasn’t satisfied with letting the big boys carry the load and me not contributing. I’m trying to score every night. It will be that way moving forward and into the playoffs.”

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McCLASSIC CONNOR

McDavid didn’t wait very long to let everyone know it was going to be one of those nights. He had a goal and two assists before the first period was 12 minutes old. He set up Draisaitl at 4:36 and Hyman at 11:24 and scored one himself at 6:58.

It was the 118th time he’s picked up three or more points in a game, which is third on the Oilers all-time list behind Jari Kurri (137) and Wayne Gretzky (301).

HOLY HYMAN

Hyman’s hat-trick wasn’t made official until late in the third period after NHL gave him credit for a goal originally given to Evan Bouchard late in the second period. The hats came raining anyway.

The goals extended Hyman’s home-ice scoring streak to 10 games, tying him with Wayne Gretzky for the longest streak in franchise history. Overall he has 13 goals in his last 13 games and has 46 on the season, after a career-high of 21 in Toronto.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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