If fantasy hockey worked like fantasy football, you’d have been tempted to start the Edmonton Oilers defence in Week 1, given their weaker schedule. You would’ve been punished.

But if you were belligerent on Saturday night and said, “Surely this can’t go on,” you’d be rewarded.

“We didn’t give up a touchdown,” said coach Mike Babcock with a comedic fist pump to begin the post-game scrum after Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken.

The Edmonton Oilers are 2-0-1 to start the season, and they’ve given up just 21 high-danger chances in all strengths in the three games. That’s pretty good.

How they got there over the course of the week is another story, of course, but Saturday’s snoozer against Seattle is the classic snapback to normality after a zany 27-goal firework display against the Vancouver Canucks.

Nothing wrong with it considering the strange anxiety of a 9-7 game on Thursday that at one time featured a six-goal Edmonton lead, and even better that Devon Levi did not let the lacklustre Oilers debut persist.

Truthfully, I expected Tristan Jarry. It seemed like an easier decision to protect the young goalie, but fans’ optimism about Levi’s long-term prospects as Goalie of the Future was quickly restored with his effort.

That’s where Frederik Andersen made his first impact on the team. Of course, Andersen’s injury opened the door for Levi in the first place, but both Babcock and Levi talked about his veteran presence following the Seattle victory.

“Freddie has been awesome so far,” said Levi. “He’s been around. I’ve had some great conversations with him. A lot of support from him, too.

“I’ve never really had a veteran goalie on my team in the goalie system with me. Having his support and hearing what he has to say, and his leadership, has been really helpful. I’m happy he’s around.”

I think the new opponent helped. We’ve seen the Oilers play down to competition before, and although the Kraken ain’t the Hurricanes, they are at least actively trying to win games this season as opposed to the Canucks.

There are some distinct pauses between games coming up as the Oilers embark on a three-game road trip, including a break until Wednesday and two days off between games on a Southern California swing. I don’t recall such a staggered road trip like this.

Time to practice. Maybe a player or two will return from injury.

© Oilers Nation