*Photo from CTV News Edmonton*
The best player in the NHL today just keeps hitting milestones. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice, Connor McDavid had two goals to reach a milestone, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night in Edmonton.
With the win, the Oilers have now won 5 straight games and 9 of 11, trailing the Los Angeles Kings by two points for second place in the Pacific Division. Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid led the way with two goal games, while Leon Draisaitl assisted on all 4 goals for the Oilers.
Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said "When you look at that game tonight, we gave up 17 shots on net against a team that has lost one time in regulation in their last 10. I think it's important to realize Andre Tourigny and his staff do a heck of a job, his team plays very hard. They played hard tonight. Though we didn't give up a lot, I thought there were some situations we could handle a little bit better that ended up in the back of our net."
McDavid started the scoring in this one, scoring on the power play 5:47 into the game with assists from Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, McDavid's 59th goal of the season. JJ Moser answered back for the Coyotes 10 minutes later, evening the score 1-1 on his 6th goal of the season, assisted by Lawson Crouse and Mattias Maccelli.
In the second period, Clayton Keller struck first, giving the Coyotes a 2-1 advantage 3:37 into the period, scoring his 33rd goal of the season. With just 10 seconds left in the second, Draisaitl got the assist on Nugent-Hopkins' power play goal, tying the game at a 2-2 score on his 32nd goal of the season.
Keller struck again for the Coyotes in the 3rd period, making it a 3-2 game with his second goal of the night, coming 8:54 into the period. Nugent-Hopkins answered with his second goal of the night to tie the game 3-3, forcing overtime. McDavid then scored his 60th goal of the season 1:31 into overtime to give the Oilers the win.
Draisaitl said of McDavid's 60 goal season that "He's going to downplay it, as we all know, but it's pretty hard to score in this league, and to score 60 in a season and still have 10 games to go is pretty remarkable. He is just a special player. He obviously missed the first one and he was telling me he slammed his stick against the boards after. I just saw their guy bobble it, so I tried to strip him, and I saw Connor again. It is crazy to try that same move again and score on it the second time, but that is just what he does, I guess."
Getting the start for the Oilers was Stuart Skinner, who picked up the win in a back and forth game. Skinner stopped 14 of the 17 shots Arizona got on him, which was good for a .824 save percentage. His record now stands at 23-14-4 on the season.
In goal for the Coyotes was Connor Ingram, who got saddled with the OT loss as his record dropped to 6-13-7 in 26 games so far this season. Ingram turned away 27 out of the 31 shots on goal the Oilers had, recording a .871 save percentage.
Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny said that "We worked hard, and I think the boys did a good job on a lot of fronts. They're obviously really good on their power plays and that was a big factor. Our guys never quit, they kept going, they have of character, they play for each other. There are a lot of guys who are willing to suffer for each other and there is a huge brotherhood in that room."
Up next, the Coyotes resume play on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche, with Karel Vejmelka expected to start. Skinner is the projected goalie for Edmonton on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Comments
Post a Comment