EDMONTON -- The Oilers returned home to snap a two game, goalless losing streak against the league's top scoring team, beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime.
Coming in to Thursday’s game the Oilers hadn’t scored since the second period of their last home game against the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 18, an Ethan Bear goal which would end up being the game winner. Getting back in the win column would not be an easy task against the second-best team in the NHL heading in to Thursday.
165 minutes and 58 seconds after Bear’s goal, another defenceman would end Edmonton’s drought, with a little luck.
While breaking in to the Capitals’ zone, Darnell Nurse’s centring pass attempt went off the stick Capitals defenceman Nick Jensen and through the legs of Braden Holtby, giving Edmonton the 1-0 lead 13:20in to the first period.
It marks just the second time Edmonton has scored the first goal of a game on home ice this season.
"I don’t think anyone loses confidence,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after the game about breaking the goal drought. "These things happen throughout the course of the season.”
The Oilers had a golden opportunity to double their lead early in the second period.
While on the power play, you couldn’t blame Ryan Nugent-Hopkins if he thought he was about to score his second goal of the season, but Holtby made an incredible glove save, keeping it a one goal game.
The save seemed to fire up Washington, and the Caps tied the game a short time later.
With Edmonton struggling to clear the zone, Jakub Vrana chased down the loose puck to the left of Mikko Koskinen, wildly turning around and putting a shot on net which beat Edmonton’s goalie to tie the game at one goal apiece.
The second period unraveled from there.
Just 47 seconds later, the Ovechkin would notch his eighth goal of the season, batting down a Jonas Siegenthaler point shot fooling Koskinen to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. John Carlson also picked up an assist on the play for his league leading 16th of the season, and his league leading 21st point.
Ovechkin would strike again before the end of the period, with a milestone goal on the power play.
After Matt Benning was sent to the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck, Ovechkin was set up by Tom Wilson all alone just inside the face-off circle to Koskinen’s right. He then sniped a shot over Koskinen’s shoulder for his second of the game and 250th career power play goal, giving Washington a 3-1 lead.
“Obviously Ovechkin has been doing it for 12 years, or whatever he’s been doing it for,” McDavid said about last year’s leading goal scorer. “He’s one of the best ever to do it, you know he holds the gold standard when it comes to goal scoring”
The Oilers mounted a comeback in the third though, and Draisaitl, a 50 goal scorer himself one year ago, was not about to let last year’s Maurice Richard Trophy winner outdo him.
Zack Kassian hit Connor McDavid at Washinton’s blue line with a pass from the boards at centre ice, setting up an Oilers two on one. McDavid fed Draisaitl to his left and he beat Holtby over the shoulder to cut Edmonton’s deficit to one, 4:25 in to the period.
Down 3-2 late in the third, the Oilers pulled Koskinen with less than two minutes left to get McDavid on the ice as the extra attacker.
Pressuring the Capitals in their end looking for that tying goal, James Neal made his way around the net and found Connor McDavid in the slot, his shot trickled past Holtby, just crossing the goal line to tie it up 3-3 with just 1:38left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.
“We’ve done this pretty much all year, coming back from deficits,” Draisaitl said when asked about the team’s late comeback. “So we believe in here, so we just needed to clean up a few things, get a little cleaner and get more direct towards the net and I thought we did that in the third.”
On this day five years ago, Leon Draisaitl scored his first NHL goal: a game winner against the Carolina Hurricanes. On Thursday he celebrated in fitting fashion.
In the extra frame, a Koskinen pad save on Nicolas Backstrom created an Oilers three-on-one the other way led by none other than Draisaitl and McDavid.
Draisaitl carried the play over the Capitals’ blue line feeding a cross-ice pass to McDavid before getting a quick return pass and stuffing it in tight against the post past a sprawling Holtby to complete the comeback with a 4-3 win, and ending the losing streak at two games.
Draisaitl celebrates his five year, first-goal anniversary with yet another game winner.
“You have to expect it,” Draisaitl responded when asked if he knew whether McDavid would make the pass on his overtime goal. “I wouldn’t have been mad if he put it in himself, put it that way,” he joked.
“Obviously when you’re sitting in the slot with the game on your stick you’re thinking about shooting it,” McDavid said when describing his thought process on the game’s final play. “Leon [Draisaitl] did a good job of staying with it, some guys just kind of float away and don’t hang around.”
The game did not disappoint hockey fans, as the only two fifty goal scorers last season, Draisaitl and Ovechkin, combined for four goals on the night.
“It was entertaining to watch,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said after the game. “A fun game for the fans, you’ve got the big guys scoring, Ovechkin had two, Draisaitl had two and McDavid was really good, it was an entertaining game.”
In yet another game where Draisaitl and McDavid contributed to most of the Oil’s scoring, Tippett said Edmonton’s lack of production from his bottom six forwards continues to be an area of concern.
“I like their work ethic, I like their penalty kill but at some point we have to start chipping in there a little bit too.” Tippett said.
Carlson’s assist on Ovechkin’s first goal keeps him in the league lead with 21 points. McDavid’s three point night pulls him within one of Carlson’s lead with 20, and Draisaitl now has 19.
Next up for the Oilers are the Florida Panthers on Sunday at Rogers Place.
