Leon Draisaitl scored twice, including the overtime winner, and added an assist in his return from injury as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a two-game losing skid with a 3-2 victory over the rival Calgary Flames on Saturday.
“The tight games are always a little bit more special, a little bit more fun to be in,” Draisaitl said after the win. “I thought we played well, for the most part — hung in — and obviously you have to win those games as well.”
“Some pretty nice plays at key moments, and probably the biggest one was the tying goal; coming down the wing and sniping that,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said when asked about Draisaitl’s performance.
“I’m sure he garnered a few votes for some hardware after the season, I would imagine.”
Jeff Skinner dropped the puck back to Draisaitl in the slot and he blasted a shot past Calgary goalie Dustin Wolf 2:25 into overtime for his league-leading 51st goal of the season.
Viktor Arvidsson also scored and Darnell Nurse had a pair of assists for the Oilers (42-26-5) who remained without star forward Connor McDavid, top defenceman Mattias Ekholm and starting goalie Stuart Skinner. Edmonton moved into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Los Angeles Kings.
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Yegor Sharangovich and Brayden Pachal replied for the Flames (34-26-12) who have lost two straight and took a slight hit in their pursuit of a wild-card playoff spot, sitting seven points back of the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild.
Calvin Pickard made 26 stops to collect the win in net for the Oilers, while Wolf recorded 26 saves in the loss for the Flames.
TAKEAWAYS
Flames: Nazem Kadri’s assist on the opening goal was his 700th career NHL point and extended his points scoring streak to six games, although his goal scoring streak ended at five games. Kadri notched another milestone earlier in the week when he scored his 300th career goal against Seattle.
Oilers: Draisaitl returned after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury. Draisaitl now has 63 points in 48 career games against the Flames.
KEY MOMENT
The Oilers tied the game 2-2 with 3:12 remaining in the third period as Evan Bouchard sent it to Draisaitl and he cut in from the wing and sent his 50th goal of the season stick-side past Wolf. It is Draisaitl’s fourth 50-goal season, tying Jari Kurri for second most in Edmonton franchise history, behind Wayne Gretzky’s eight seasons.
WRECKING BALL
Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen was involved in incidents that cost each Alberta team a player from their lineup, as goaltender Stuart Skinner was out after taking a knee to the head from Rantanen on Wednesday and Rantanen then hit Flames forward Connor Zary along the boards on Thursday that saw the Calgary player sustain a leg injury.
KEY STAT
Coming into the game, the Oilers had outscored the Flames 1,016 to 1,012 in the combined clashes between the provincial rivals, including the playoffs.
UP NEXT
Flames: Visit the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Oilers: Visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
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