Draisaitl OT goal caps Oilers' 6-5 comeback over Rangers
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The Edmonton Oilers set a franchise record when Leon Draisaitl scored the overtime winner in a 6-5 comeback win over the New York Rangers on Friday night.
The Oilers have won nine of their first 10 games for the first time in team history. Jesse Puljujarvi scored twice for Edmonton, which also got goals from Zach Hyman, Tyson Barrie and Connor McDavid. Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen stopped 20 of 25 shots in the victory.
'œIt felt like the '80s out there at times tonight,'ť McDavid said. 'œWe don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. It's 10 games in. '¦ Honestly, we wanted to perform well, and we didn't do that for a large part of the game. But finding a way to win a game like that? You can build on it.'ť
McDavid's goal with three minutes left in the third period turned heads and tied the game 5-5. He waltzed through four Rangers defenders before taking it past Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev for his eighth of the season.
'œThe bench went crazy,'ť Hyman said. 'œAt that time of the game, to score a goal like that, it was pretty special. Only he can make a play like that. It was just Connor being Connor. I think it is the best goal I have ever seen.'ť
It was the Rangers' second straight loss. Mika Zibanejad scored twice for them, and Filip Chytil, Kevin Rooney and Chris Kreider also had goals. Georgiev got the nod ahead of the usual starter Igor Shesterkin and had 33 saves.
'œI'm disappointed no doubt, the way it happened, we played a great 35 minutes, then we sort of started watching them a little bit,'ť Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. 'œWe were a little too passive, when you give teams time and space they're going to make their plays, especially with their talent. We played too much in their D-zone the last 25 minutes of the game and it caught up to us.'ť
The Oilers were trailing 4-1 after Zibanejad's first goal of the game at 6:56 of the second period, but Puljujarvi kickstarted the comeback with a power-play goal with about 5 minutes left.
That made Edmonton the first team to score a power-play goal in each of their first 10 games to start a season since Pittsburgh in 2007-08.
The Oilers' lethal power play struck again one minute into the third when Barrie scored on a wrist shot. Edmonton tied the game two-and-a-half minutes later as Puljujarvi scored his second on a big rebound in front.
New York regained the lead seven minutes into the third when Zibanejad picked the corner for his second of the contest.
The Rangers started hot with a goal about two minutes into the game. Some sloppy play by the Oilers allowed Chytil to rifle the puck past Koskinen, who had lost his stick.
Despite being outplayed for much of the opening frame, the Oilers tied it up late in the first when Hyman took a couple swings at a rebound and whacked home his seventh of the season past Georgiev.
New York led 2-1 after an Oiler giveaway allowed Rooney to send a shot over Koskinen's shoulder. The Rangers surged ahead a little more than a minute later as Kreider scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season high to the stick side.
A LOWE HONOR
Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Kevin Lowe, who won a combined six Stanley Cups with the Oilers and the Rangers, was celebrated in a pre-game ceremony and had his jersey retired.
UP NEXT
Rangers: At Calgary on Saturday night.
Oilers: At Detroit on Tuesday night to start a five-game trip.