Oilers take it to Hawks in 5-2 drubbing

The last time the Blackhawks visited Edmonton, in late November, they crushed the Oilers 7-1 en route to a spectacular circus road trip.

My how things have changed in Edmonton. There's a new coach and a new attitude for the Oilers, who came into the game with points in four of their last five games.

“Dangerous team,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said before the game. “They're playing better than we saw the last time we were here.”

After getting out of Minnesota with a 4-2 win despite being outplayed and then making the long flight to Edmonton, Quenneville knew he needed his guys to have some jump against the speedy Oilers, who were looking for revenge for that late-November loss.

“We've got to be ready,” Quenneville said. “We need a better commitment from our group across the board than (Thursday). That was tough to watch.”

It wasn't a much better watch Friday as the Oilers (10-23-9) took it to the Hawks (27-13-2) from the get-go and poured it on late for a 5-2 victory.

The Hawks did hit the board first when Brandon Saad poked in the rebound of a Jonathan Toews' shot. Marian Hossa assisted on the goal.

It was Saad's 11th of the season and also marked the 100th point of his career.

The Oilers responded quickly when Benoit Pouliot beat backup goalie Antti Raanta just over a minute later to tie it up.

A power-play goal by Derek Roy at 13:35 of the first gave the Oilers their first lead of the night.

Saad and the Hawks' top line struck again early in the second when Saad swept in a rebound of a Hossa shot to tie things up at 2-2.

“They were dangerous tonight,” Quenneville said of the Hawks' top line. “That line does a lot of good things.”

But once again, Edmonton had an answer, this time when Jeff Petry batted in the rebound of a Nail Yakupov shot to regain the lead.

“We were doing fine there when it was 2-2,” Quenneville said. “Gave up a tough one there.

“I didn't like our response after that.”

Yakupov provided the dagger in the final minutes of the third when he beat Raanta on a 2-on-0 break to seal the deal. Taylor Hall added a late empty-netter to finish off the scoring.

Raanta, making his first start since Dec. 21 against Toronto, stopped 17 of 21 shots and told reporters after the game that it was his worst game in his NHL career.

“It was one of those games for him,” Quenneville said.”

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