Oilers head east, hope to start new win streak at Lightning

Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97), Tyler Benson (16), William Lagesson (84) and Tyson Barrie (22) celebrate a goal against the Minnesota Wild during second period NHL action in Edmonton, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

The Oilers are looking for the kind of results they found under Woodcroft in the first five contests following the dismissal of former coach Dave Tippett, rather than the poor outing they endured Sunday against the visiting Minnesota Wild.

Edmonton had outscored opponents 22-8 in the five impressive, regulation victories under Woodcroft, but Minnesota scored four goals in the first 13:38 -- chasing starting goalie Mike Smith -- and continued to a 7-3 rout.

Evander Kane, Tyler Benson and Zach Hyman hit the net for the home side, but the performance of the defense and the veteran Smith was disappointing, as he allowed four tallies on seven shots.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who rank first and tied for second in NHL total scoring entering Tuesday, were only represented on the scoresheet by Draisaitl's secondary assist on Kane's power-play score in the first period.

That goal cut the lead to 4-1 and finally brought the crowd to life. But consecutive goals by the Wild made it 6-1 and shut down any chance of a rally.

"We got off to a really bad start. This league is too hard to come back from a 4-0 deficit," said Draisaitl, who has 70 points (35 goals, 35 assists), one behind McDavid. "We have been playing a lot of games, no question. But every team goes through this and we don't want to use it as an excuse."

Triumphant in two straight matches and nine of their past 12 (9-2-1), the Lightning have not played since winning 6-3 in New Jersey on Feb. 15. They fell behind 3-1 before rallying for five unanswered goals in a 15-minute stretch -- the last 4:28 of the second period and first 10:21 of the third.

Six different Lightning players scored, including Victor Hedman with the go-ahead marker, as 10 team members found the scoresheet in the come-from-behind win, which avenged a go-from-ahead loss to New Jersey earlier in the season.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, whose sixth goal of the season concluded the scoring, was not pleased with the sloppy start.

"We were not ready," the bottom-six forward said. "We were way too slow. And unfortunately, we had to get a kick in the butt and finally we woke up, so I would put that in the unacceptable category."

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in the victory, his 26th of the season. He is one off the league pace set by Carolina Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen (27 wins) as of Tuesday.

The Lightning claimed former Detroit Red Wings forward Gemel Smith on waivers Saturday and assigned him to AHL affiliate Syracuse.

The two clubs will round out the season series March 12 in Edmonton.

--Field Level Media