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When the Edmonton Oilers were drawing up their season, they never imagined for one moment that they would need a late-November upset over the Anaheim Ducks to kick-start their chase for a wildcard spot.

They never dreamed that 19 games into the season, with Anaheim coming to town on a five-game losing streak, they would somehow still be five points back of the flightless Ducks.

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But that’s the hole they’ve dug themselves, so the only option at this point is to make the best of it and start crawling out.

They got to work on it Sunday night at Rogers Place, inching a little farther north by leaving the Ducks full of bullet holes in an 8-2 rout. The win improved Edmonton to 7-12-1 and lifted them past Minnesota and into 13th place in the Western Conference, three points back of the Ducks.

An offence that had been uncharacteristically average through the first quarter of the season appears to be coming to life as the Oilers, fresh off a 5-0 win in Washington made it 13 goals in the last two games.

“It’s obviously nice to be able to break through and get our offence going a little bit,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “Early in the season the puck wasn’t going in. We were trying hard and trying to get around it, but I think it does help the confidence when they start going in.”

The Oilers took this game where they are most comfortable, relying on their forecheck and their offence to push through a slow start and run away with the contest by the halfway mark.

Connor McDavid erupted again with a goal and four assists for nine points in the last two games. After sitting tied in a 26-way tie for 113th in league scoring just a couple of weeks ago he’s now 13th with 25 points, 12 of them in the last four games. It’s not often you see a guy move up 100 spots in a week, but you don’t often see a player like McDavid.

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“He’s been playing his butt off and doing everything he can since the start of the season,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse. “The points are starting to come the last few games but, that being said, he’s been working at that same clip since before camp. He’s just being rewarded for it now.”

Beyond McDavid, Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist, Nurse had three assists, Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane and Vincent Desharnais had two points each and Nugent-Hopkins was plus-four.

“I think our whole team is playing better and I think that’s why you are starting to see guys have success,” said McDavid. “It’s not just a light switch that one or two guys can just turn on, it takes a whole group and I thought our group has been playing better of late and you’re starting to see guys have a little bit of success. And a little bit too is it just going in. Guys are making plays and it is just going in.”

In no way, shape or form were the Oilers the better team to start this game. They lost all the battles and were outshot 7-2 in digging a 2-1 deficit in the first six minutes. Leon Draisaitl took a bad penalty, Stuart Skinner let in a bad goal and, once again, the chips were down.

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But they pushed through. They only had four shots on net in the first 12:37, but it so happened that three of them went in — Kane on a two-on-one, a McDavid wrist shot and a Nugent-Hopkins breakaway made possible by a brilliant stretch pass from Nurse. Throw in Hyman’s back door one-timer and it was 4-2 Edmonton at the first intermission.

“They came out and had a really good push and we were down 2-1, but we weren’t deterred by it and just stuck to our game and were able to capitalize on the chances,” said Nurse. “That’s what’s special about this group, we’re resilient. We have to continue to play to the standard we know we can play to and it has to be every night.”

One more from Hyman, for a team-leading 12 on the season, and the second of the year for James Hamblin and it was over after two periods.

Draisaitl and Mattias Ekholm piled on in the third period.

Next up, a massive showdown Tuesday with the Vegas Golden Knights.

LATE HITS

Connor Brown finally registered his first point as an Oiler, potting a first-period assist in his 14th game… It was a tough night for Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal, who came into the contest with an .893 save percentage and got the hook after giving up six goals on 17 shots. He wasn’t great, but the Oilers had a myriad of high-grade chances.

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