The number eight moment in our top ten countdown isn’t nearly as important as our number nine moment in the grand scheme of things, but I’d argue this one was more exciting and surprising. The Oilers were already headed back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006, but no one knew exactly where Edmonton would place in the seeding.
The Oilers were on a late season tear when they headed down to San Jose to face their eventual first round opponent. In a playoff preview, Edmonton would march into San Jose and defeat the Sharks to all but secure the second seed in the Pacific division, thus ensuring home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs.
Connor McDavid scored his 30th goal of the season that night, but he would be overshadowed by the big addition from the previous summer. After a tough start, Milan Lucic caught fire towards the end of the season and started to become the premier power forward that Oiler fans had been hoping for.
On this night, Lucic would steal the show by scoring a natural hat-trick in the third period. Lucic’s third period magic would propel Edmonton to a 4-2 victory on this night.
This was Lucic’s first hat-trick as a member of the Oilers, and would help push him to 20 goals on the season. Lucic finished with 23 tallies in his first season as a member of the Oilers, officially going 23-27-50 in 82 contests for the club.
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