Edmonton Oilers center Anton Lander celebrates his goal against Montreal CanadiensJean-Yves Ahern
Is this what a renaissance feels like?
It's too late for it to matter this season, of course, but the Edmonton Oilers suddenly have cause to feel good about themselves.
Small samples and all that, but they may even be in danger of becoming a proper hockey team.
Pitted against a Montreal Canadiens club that had won eight of its last 10 games, the Western Conference's basement dwellers clawed back 2-0 and 3-2 deficits and triumphed 4-3 in overtime.
Margins are thin in the NHL, and had the Habs managed the usually straightforward task of scoring an empty-netter in the late going to pad a 3-2 lead, this would have been another one for the moral victory column (also, there are no moral victories in the NHL).
"The puck got ringed around, and it hit the referee's skate and it slowed the puck down just in time for the guy to get out of the box. I'm going 'are you kidding me?'" said Edmonton coach Todd Nelson.
He needn't have worried, 21-year-old defenceman Oscar Klefbom kneeled to block Tomas Plekanec's goal-ward attempt – the Czech centre having decided to try his luck rather than passing to a wide-open Brandon Prust.
"I got a little panicked there, if (Plekanec) would have shot it right away I don't think I would have had time to save it," Klefbom said.
Moments later, the Swedish rearguard would earn an assist on a play where the puck was swept into the net by young centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins; it crossed the line with 24.9 seconds left on the clock.
The Oilers have had fitful success in making consistent NHL producers out of their gaggle of young stars, but everything fell into place in overtime when 21-year-old former first overall pick Nail Yakupov stormed up the right wing and sizzled a shot on net.
The puck came to Klefbom (himself a former first-rounder), his sharp-angled shot was saved by Dustin Tokarski but the rebound was quickly deposited in the net by 23-year-old Anton Lander, his second goal in as many games.
"It feels like the team is playing really good hockey right now, we follow our game plan, the team is playing really solid for 60 minutes. That's been our problem I think, we've played 40 or 50 minutes. I think we played a decent game today," said Klefbom.
That's a bit of an understatement.
The Habs may be one of the top teams in the east but the Oilers had them on the run from the outset, creating a raft of odd-man rushes, piling up scoring chances and solidly out-shooting the home side.
Nelson, who sports the interim tag on his title, has brought a new outlook to the team – he's a soft-spoken, positive-thinking sort – and some simple advice: skate faster and the rest will follow.
The Habs are no slow-pokes, but Edmonton was plainly the speedier team on Thursday, and it's a style that should play to the strengths of the Oilers' talented youngsters.
"When you win a game like tonight it reinforces the message, right? We're a team, I feel we have to play fast, we have to be competitive and we have to play at a very high tempo. That's three good games in a row for us . . . we just want to keep this thing going," Nelson said. "That's why it was disheartening in New York (a nip-and-tuck 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday). The process was great, the work ethic was fantastic, we just didn't get the result we wanted. Tonight we did, and I like the fact we stuck with it."
The Oilers may well live to regret choosing Yakupov instead of his junior teammate Alex Galchenyuk – who scored his 16th goal of the season (and 36th point) in the second period from a beautiful P.K. Subban feed (Christian Thomas' first-ever NHL goal had made it 1-0 Habs in the first).
But Yakupov has undeniable talent, in the first period he used his speed to blow around the Montreal defence, in the second he set up Ryan Hamilton with a perfect pass on a two-on-one (the puck clanged off the post).
Nelson's challenge is to make the young Russian a more responsible player (a task that has eluded two other coaches to this point); his handling of the young winger and the progress displayed by Klefbom, Lander might hint at some much-needed teaching ability.
Drafting and development remain the biggest challenges for the Oilers.
Contrast their success on those fronts with the Habs'.
Sure, Montreal already had tantalizing assets like Carey Price, Max Pacioretty and Subban on its books when it drafted Galchenyuk in 2012 (two spots after Yakupov).
Yes, they were a playoff team when he was eased in to the lineup as an 18-year-old, a benefit the Oilers' cadre of marquee picks haven't enjoyed.
But they also picked up Brendan Gallagher, Galchenyuk's linemate, in the fifth round the year before.
Unlike the Oilers, the Habs are good at spotting value in the draft, Andrei Markov was a sixth-round pick, Plekanec was a third-rounder as was Alexei Emelin. Subban was a second-rounder, which in hindsight seems outrageous. Charles Hudon, who is leading their AHL affiliate in scoring, was a fifth-rounder.
Their second-round choice from 2013, Jacob De La Rose, notched his first NHL point in his fifth career game (having spent a year in Sweden's top pro league and half a season in the AHL).
De La Rose picked up his first NHL point on Thomas' goal, and he has demonstrated unusual defensive awareness since arriving. It has clearly impressed his teammates.
"He's very responsible and very mature for his age, and it shows in his play," Pacioretty said approvingly.
The Habs have also allowed players like Nathan Beaulieu and Michael Bournival to get their seasoning in the minors and in bit roles in the NHL – same with Thomas, acquired from the New York Rangers a couple of seasons ago.
If Nelson can help players like Yakupov, Klefbom and Lander play to their potential, it will ease the strain on young frontline players like Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle (who was excellent against Montreal), Justin Schultz and the injured Taylor Hall.
As it is, the Oilers are 8-9-1 since the turn of the year. The players are hopeful, the organization has retooled its scouting operation, Nelson – who coached many of the club's prospects in the AHL – is methodically working at "getting these guys to play for each other."
It's hard to describe a turnaround when you're in the middle of executing one; maybe this will turn out to be a dead-cat bounce.
After all, Montreal has been flat-out brutal against bottom-feeding teams this season, as evidenced by recent back-to-back losses against the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes.
With Price watching from the bench and Tokarski in a giving mood (he looked terrible on two of Edmonton's goals), the Habs put in a lacklustre effort.
Coach Michel Therrien talked about a "lack of maturity" afterward, and was blunt in his assessment of the Habs' second loss to Edmonton this year.
"We played a really bad game. In all aspects. We were lucky to get a point," he said.
Therrien was right to be upset at his team's effort.
But if the Oilers are in the midst of figuring it out, his brooding tone could become more common among opposing coaches next season.