The Edmonton Oilers wrapped up a pretty brutal road trip with a win, as they defeated the Airportless Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in OVERRRTIME on Tuesday evening.
It was actually the Jets that jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the second period. On the Jets’ rush, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left his man open to help Cody Ceci, and Zach Hyman was late picking up the scorer, Mason Appleton, who slotted the rebound home for the lead.
Seven minutes later, the Oilers tied the game as Connor McDavid found Warren Foegle, who made an easy pass to Leon Draisaitl for the goal. This was Foegele’s 20th assist, and his 36 points are a career-high.
Connor Brown scored his third goal of the season with a laser of a wrist shot. After not scoring in his first 54 games, Brown now has three goals in his last six games, and has four total points. Picking up the assists on this goal were Mattias Ekholm and Cody Ceci.
On a four-minute power play, the Oilers scored an insurance goal to give them a daunted two-goal lead. Connor “instant zone entry on the power play” McDavid rushed into the zone and found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the weak side for his first goal in 13 games.
The Jets are contenders though, so of course they had some fight left in them. Halfway through the third period, Brendon Dillion’s seeing eye shot found the back of the net as Stuart Skinner was screened by four players.
A minute later, Nikolaj Ehlers let a wrist shot go from the blue line that handcuffed Skinner. There was a small screen, but this is one that Skinner probably should have had. It was a real “here we go again” moment, as the Oilers blew a 3-1 lead for the second straight game and took a late penalty that shouldn’t have been called.
However, 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman made a terrific move around the Jets’ defender, shot the puck, got his own rebound, and slotted it in for his 51st goal. Moreover, it was his fifth goal in his last four games, with at least one goal in all of them. Thank you Stu… art Skinner for the big overtime save earlier in the overtime period.
INSTANT REACTION
Things worth mentioning…
Connor McDavid picked up two assists, moving him to 26 goals and 119 points on the season. This is only four points behind Nikita Kucherov and five points behind MacKinnon, who picked up a goal in Colorado’s game.
Stuart Skinner didn’t have a great game on paper, saving 22 of 25 shots for an .880 save percentage. However, he made some pretty key stops, especially in the first period. It’s hard to really blame him on the second goal, as the front of the net was as busy as New York City’s transit system.
With the win, Edmonton won the season series against the Jets. They won in late November 3-1, and picked up a point in an overtime loss in late-October. Out of any team in the Central Division, Winnipeg is probably the least worrisome, which is saying a lot, as they are still a very dangerous team.
Edmonton had a much better penalty kill on Tuesday, killing off all five penalties that they took. The game against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday was disastrous in this regard, as they let the Senators set up the same play for two power play goals for Jakub Chychrun, and only killing off one in four attempts.
Up next: Edmoney returns to action on Thursday as they’ll host the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place at 7 PM MT. This game has some real home-ice implications, as the Kings trail the Oilers by three points with an additional game played. A win for the Oilers will give them a five point cushion with 11 games remaining.
INSTANT REACTION
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