Oilers' Brown: Crowd's reaction to 1st goal of season 'meant a lot'

Edmonton Oilers forward Connor Brown has scored some memorable goals over the course of his nine-year NHL career, but he said Wednesday's tally, his first of the 2023-24 campaign, "would take the cake."

A standing ovation (and a thrown hat or two) from those in attendance at Rogers Place likely has something to do with it.

"It meant a lot," a smiling Brown told reporters postgame when asked about the crowd's reaction. "I mean, you play in a big market like this and they're aware of the storylines, and it means a lot. It's been a struggle this year offensively.

"I haven't been able to get one to go, and so for their kind of support to shine through there, obviously they're rooting for me. It was a good feeling."

Brown's goal was the highlight of the Oilers' 7-2 rout of the Washington Capitals. Evander Kane found his snake-bitten teammate in front of the net on a two-on-one, and Brown was able to direct it home.

"(Brown's) worked hard, he's played really well," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "He's probably the most unfortunate player - unlucky - in the NHL. The amount of goal posts he's hit and chances, just haven't been able to go in."

"Very happy for him, but I thought he played a really good game even if he hadn't had the goal," the bench boss added.

Brown entered Wednesday's action with just five assists in 54 games, though he'd generated around nine individual expected goals at all strengths, per Natural Stat Trick. The 30-year-old was limited to just four games last season because of a torn ACL and hadn't found the back of the net since March 24, 2022.

For all of his recent struggles, Leon Draisaitl said Brown "never complained."

"There's none of that," the superstar said. "Great teammate, great guy. I wouldn't be surprised if this opened the floodgates for him."

Brown, meanwhile, is relieved to finally get the monkey off of his back.

"I never was just OK with not scoring," he said. "I wasn't (satisfied) with just kind of letting these big boys take the load and not trying to contribute. I'm trying to score every night. It'll be that way moving forward and into the playoffs."

Next up for the Oilers is a clash against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.