Oilers' Evander Kane looks like he is back to his old self
It may have taken a little longer than expected, but it looks like the Edmonton Oilers finally have Evander Kane playing like his old self.
The 32-year-old power forward has been lights out for the Oilers of late. He is fresh off scoring a natural hat trick on Wednesday night, helping the Oilers to erase a two-goal deficit and defeat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 in overtime. This adds to a torrid scoring streak that has seen Kane net six goals and 12 points over his last eight games.
COMEBACK KANE! 😤@evanderkane scores three straight goals to secure the natural hat trick and give the @EdmontonOilers the win!
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/xGUn3aINSm
— NHL (@NHL) November 16, 2023
Not only is Kane back to the scoring ways that endeared him to Oilers fans when he first arrived in 2022, but he also looks much more engaged from a physical point of view. The first shift of Wednesday night’s game saw him get into it with Kraken forward Brandon Tanev.
Having Kane back to his old self is a huge development for the Oilers. There were plenty of fears early on this season that Kane would not be able to regain his scoring touch after having his wrist slit by a skate last year.
His play to start the season was so bad that former head coach Jay Woodcroft felt the need to demote him to the team’s third line—a development that Kane was not too happy about.
However, we started to see Kane’s play shift during the 2023 Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames. The swagger that has defined Kane’s style of play for the entirety of his career seemed to jump back into the Vancouver native all at once.
He hit the ice and immediately got under the skin of the opponents, chirping them every chance he could and not shying away from laying the body. For his efforts, he was even rewarded with a three-point night, nabbing two assists and sealing a 5-2 win with an empty-netter.
Ever since that night at Commonwealth Stadium, Kane appears to be a different player from the one that started the season. After recording just three points in his first seven games, the former 30-goal scorer is now on pace for 82 points, which would be a career-high.
With Connor McDavid going through a bit of a funk and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins regressing off his 100-point pace, having Kane bring the energy on a nightly basis is a huge arrows-up for the Oilers.
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