Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Jones celebrates his short-handed goal against the Montreal Canadiens during second period NHL hockey action Tuesday, November 8, 2011 in Montreal.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
On a team where an 18-year-old kid called Ryan has been getting much of the attention, two older players with the same surname were the ones getting it done in Montreal.
We speak, of course, of the Edmonton Oilers, who with their squadron of Ryans (Nugent-Hopkins, Smyth, Jones, and the injured Whitney) have roared from last place in the West in 2010-11 to second place through the first month of the 2011-12 season.
On Monday, they did it by winning a game they had no business being in at the Bell Centre, beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-1.
"Good teams find a way to win, and good teams don't lose two in a row, so that was nice to rebound after a loss [4-2 in Phoenix on Saturday]" said 35-year-old Ryan Smyth, who set up the winner and scored his team-leading seventh goal into an empty net.
This is a team with newfound belief and a passel of young stars (Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi, etc., and so forth) and a core of veterans led by the remarkable goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.
The 38-year-old is putting up giant numbers - or in this case, microscopic goals-against digits - and has once again discovered the kind of form that got his name engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2004.
The Canadiens hit posts (twice on the same power-play, in Mike Cammalleri's case), they ripped shots from the point (P.K. Subban had five), and they moved Khabibulin from side to side, but still they couldn't get the puck by him (ask Erik Cole and Max Pacioretty, who were denied by spectacular saves).
The Russian netminder allowed after the game that he probably is playing his best hockey since his last playoff appearance as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2008-09.
"When you don't win many games, obviously time doesn't go as fast. Right now, time flies," said Khabibulin, who spent a couple of weeks in Arizona's Tent City Jail this past summer after being convicted of impaired driving and speeding offences in 2010.
He has rebounded to be the NHL's stingiest netminder through his first nine starts (7-0-2).
Add the inspired play of Smyth and the contribution of the kid line of Nugent-Hopkins, Hall and Eberle - who were held off the scoresheet but showed flashes and played a dominant shift in the third that temporarily helped stem a Montreal comeback (they would later get scored on) - and you have a team that feels good about itself.
Before the game, Oilers coach Tom Renney talked about how he wants his team to "learn by winning" after a dismal season last year that saw them end up with the first overall draft pick for the second year in a row.
Afterward, he was more relieved than satisfied.
"Spent too much time in the penalty box, didn't think the game well…," Renney said. "And then as attrition takes its toll, sometimes your brain takes a cab."
Happily, the Habs' power-play was as much of a liability as it was a help this night.
The home side went 0-for-6 with the man advantage - including four in the second period - and gave up two short-handed breakaways.
The first, which resulted from improvised point man Tomas Plekanec's ill-advised pass to Erik Cole, which was cut out and bounced to Ryan Jones - the other Ryan du jour - who skated in alone on Carey Price and tucked a sweet deke between his pads.
With just under four minutes to play, Tom Gilbert doubled Edmonton's lead after yet another Montreal turnover, the big defenceman's shot caromed off Montreal's Josh Gorges before eluding Price.
But Pacioretty got the Bell Centre on its feet by finally solving Khabibulin 22 seconds later - his backhand catching a stick and fluttering into the net.
Ryan Smyth's empty-netter solved matters conclusively in favour of the visitors, who now set sail for Boston, Detroit and Chicago with a win in their pockets.
It's not one that sits well with their opponents on the night.
"Games like that are tough, when you create so many opportunities and they don't go in," said Subban.
The Habs have now lost two straight after winning four in a row, and will look to right the ship on the road in Phoenix and Nashville later this week.
"I thought that was a game we could have won pretty easily. I thought we were all over them pretty much the whole game, they got that one break there at the end (Gilbert's goal), and that was the difference," said Price. "It's kind of frustrating, we got started off on a bad note, then we play well and then things start going the other way again, hopefully we can turn it around on the road."