Edmonton Oilers
McDavid Starts New Tradition, And Newest Oiler Rewarded After Team Escapes with 9-7 Win
The Edmonton Oilers pulled out a 9-7 and Babcock addressed the room, while McDavid started a new tradition.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Edmonton Oilers will take a win any way they can. After a wild 9-7 victory, head coach Mike Babcock addressed the dressing room with a message that was part pep talk, part reality check.
“I’ve never ever met a bad win,” Babcock told his players before acknowledging the obvious: the team has work to do. The Oilers will simply have to get better, he said, particularly after surrendering seven goals. “We obviously can get way better. We f—ing know that and we’re going to. We started the game like a real team, we just gotta learn to maintain.”
McDavid said of the win: “Weird game, thought we clean that up a little bit around our net. Positive 40 minutes, what the game can, should look like for us.” Babcock added, “I really liked our game in the first, liked it for half the second, then I didn’t like it at all. We got to learn to play a whole 60, not just 30.”
Michaels Gets the Original Gretzky Game Helmet
Back in the locker room, Babcock then said congratulations to all the guys in the room who got their first NHL goal, directing that comment at Owen Michaels, who scored his first off a feed from Mathieu Joseph.
That’s when Captain Connor McDavid awarded an original Wayne Gretzky helmet to the player of the game. It went to Owen Michaels, in recognition of his first career NHL goal. The vintage lid, affectionately dubbed “the Jofa bucket” by fans, was a fitting tribute for a milestone moment.
The team’s decision to share locker room footage drew a strong reaction online. Many fans praised the content and asked for more, with one calling the helmet presentation a highlight. Others focused on the scoreboard rather than the celebration, questioning the team’s defence and goaltending. “If defence wins championships???” one fan wrote, while another pleaded, “We need a goalie.”
At the end of the day, a win is a win. That said, the Oilers have plenty to work on, and they can’t be happy about allowing 13 goals to the Canucks in two games. Still, Babcock appears to have earned the locker room’s respect. A relationship between coach and players is building, one that many feared would turn toxic but hasn’t.
The Oilers have three points in the bank after two games. Whether the defensive lapses prove a blip or a trend will be the question as the season continues.
Next: NHL Trade Talk Recap: Canadiens, Oilers & No to No-Trade Clauses?
The postgame celebration did offer some lighter moments. Leon Draisaitl presented Babcock with the game puck to mark his 2,520 days since he last won an NHL game, a milestone that drew cheers from the room.
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