Edmonton Oilers defenseman drops the gloves in a heated battle against Nashville Predators power forward

Coming into tonight's game for the Edmonton Oilers there were a lot of question marks surrounding how they would play. The doubt in the Oiler's abilities was created after a major injury to superstar Connor McDavid. Tonight the Oilers have to go out and prove what they are capable of even without their best player. Early in the game defenseman Ty Emberson was looking to get things started right with a big fight.

Ty Emberson was acquired just before the NHL season began to provide depth and a young option on defense for the Edmonton Oilers to develop. Tonight he decided to step up unexpectedly and challenged Nashville Predators forward Cole Smith to a fight.

Despite being just 6'1 Ty Emberson did not back down from the 6'3 Cole Smith who is known for being a physical power forward. Emberson and Smith dropped the gloves and went wild throwing punches many of which missed and some of which landed. Eventually the two were separated but as the game went on it became clear that Ty Emberson played a major role in giving the Edmonton Oilers a spark heading into the rest of the game.

In their first game without Connor McDavid, things have not gone at all like many expected. Shortly after the fight from Ty Emberson, the Oilers got on the scoreboard with a goal from the new top line by Viktor Arvidsson assisted by Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin.

Then after a Predators goal, the Oilers would fight back and take the lead once again this time on a Corey Perry goal assisted by new additions Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp.

Finally, Leon Draisaitl would pop back in and bury his 7th goal of the season putting the Edmonton Oilers up 3-1 and showing the world that the team is going to be quite alright without Connor McDavid.

This game has gone about as good as the Edmonton Oilers could've hoped and it all started with the huge fight from Ty Emberson. It will be fun to see how long the Edmonton Oilers can carry this momentum even without Connor McDavid.