It was a game only a mother could love.

Or a coach.

Or a team desperately trying to find a new identity after years and years failing to win a championship with the old ones.

Was Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks — where they had just five shots on net through 34 minutes — exciting?

It was like watching an old person eat a bowl of oatmeal.

But to a team that now sits 4-0-1 on the season, off to its best start in five years, and has allowed just four goals against in its last three wins (3-1, 5-2 and 3-1), winning ugly is starting to look pretty good.

“It’s tough to play against,” said winger Vasily Podkolzin, who scored his fifth of the season in the win. “The teams who won the Cups the last years played like that. That’s the way to go.

“It’s boring sometimes, and it’s feeling weird sometimes, but it works.”

This was a chess match from start to finish. When it was 1-0 Oilers at after 40 minutes, Edmonton had eight shots, San Jose had 12.

That’s right, a shot on goal every two minutes. No power plays. Very little animosity. It was two teams playing like they knew that two goals would be enough to win it, which, in the end, was true.

“There wasn’t a lot of room out there, you didn’t generate anything off the rush tonight,” said Babcock. “I thought we had to do it the hard way.

“For this time of year I thought that was a pretty good defensive hockey game for both teams.”

It certainly made life easier for Oilers goalie Tristan Jarry.

After being hung out to dry and then blamed for the 6-5 overtime loss in Edmonton’s season opener, Jarry showed what he can do when the team plays smart, hard, responsible hockey in front of him. He stopped 19 of 20 shots on the night, none of which were breakaways (there were three in his first game) or even two-on-ones.

“I thought Jars played great,” said Babcock. “He gave us a chance on the road and that’s all you can ask. There wasn’t a lot of rubber on the net either way but it was a good night for him.”

An important one, too. After two good starts in a row from Devon Levi, Jarry needed a good showing to re-establish himself in the Oilers crease, and to settle the wrath that had come his way after that opening night loss.

“Just being on the road, with nobody on him, he just got to play and relax and be himself,” said Babcock. “He’s a good goalie. He’s an important piece for us. We just have to play the right way in front of our goalies and they’ll be better.”

It’s hard not to notice just how far the Oilers have come after giving up 13 goals in their first two games. It feels like some of the Babcock stuff is beginning to settle in and the Oilers are getting more and more comfortable in this style of game, even when it’s close in the third period.

“We played a simple game,” said Jarry. “When things weren’t going our way or they were clogging up the middle, we weren’t getting frustrated with it, we were sticking to our game plan and doing what we needed to. It showed a lot of character tonight.

“When we play the way that we need to, the way that Mike is teaching us, it makes it very predictable for the goalies. The guys have done an unbelievable job with it, just buying in and doing what they need to. It’s really shown in our games.”

The goals came from Mattias Ekholm, Podkolzin and Alex Formenton, which is the kind of balance Babcock is striving for. The Oilers were never in trouble, which is kind of rare for a team that has eight shots after two periods. The only real drama came with 2:47 left in the game and the score 3-1. The Sharks went on the power play, a six-on-four against the 26th ranked PK in the league, but couldn’t break through the dam.

The Oilers played against longtime Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse for the first time since his offseason trade, and quickly came to realize that he’s a handful out there.

Nurse played 21:56, had a team-leading five shots and finished minus one.

“He’s a big boy, tough to play against,” said Podkolzin. “I love the guy, love his family. He was a great teammate for me. We had a great relationship. It was kind of sad to see him on the other side but that’s hockey life.”

Podkolzin now has five goals in five games on the season, picking right up where he left off in the playoffs — three goals in six games.

He is fast emerging as one of the NHL’s top power forwards, with Babcock comparing him to one of very best complementary forwards in the game.

“He’s like Hyms (Zach Hyman),” said the coach. “They just do it right every time, every night. They work hard. They compete. They’re physical. They have undervalued skill and they make the better players better, because they create so much space for them by being at the net, by forechecking and by doing all the little things right.”

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