Game Thread: Edmonton Oilers at Columbus Blue Jackets - Scrappy Oilers In Search of Fourth Straight Win

Today's word of the day is scrappy. This is what the Oilers are now, a scrappy hockey team. It's a change that happened quickly, Justin Schultz's flight to Pittsburgh probably hadn't even finished boarding and already Todd McLellan was talking about the Oilers being scrappy. It was mentioned regularly during the television broadcast last night too. And Brandon Davidson talked about the Oilers wanting to be a "scrappy and relentless team" in the game preview on the team's website. I'm not sure what exactly defines scrappy play, and it seems like something that everyone can define differently which is always fun, but if it helps them win games then I'm all for it. At least until I've heard it non stop for a couple weeks.

Tonight, the new look Oilers are in Columbus looking to build off one of their best games in quite a while, a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers power play looked dangerous last night but when the play was five-on-five it typically felt as if the Oilers had the game under control. As Oilers fans that not something that we're used to and it was fun to watch. Seeing the team push back and get involved physically was nice too - this is that scrappiness in action. That wasn't why the Oilers won last night, they won because they played a very good hockey game, but that scrappy style of play can certainly be a piece of the puzzle.

Since these team last met just over a month ago both have rocketed up the standings, going from being part of a three way tie for dead last, to their current place in the standings which can be best described as not quite last. The Blue Jackets, who haven't played a game since Monday, are currently 26th in the NHL with a 26-30-8 record; the Oilers sit three points back in 28th place. That game was also Connor McDavid's first since breaking his collar bone. So this is the second time that he's played against the Flyers and Blue Jackets in back-to-back games and it gives us an excuse to watch this again. Like we needed an excuse.