EDMONTON — Connor McDavid had a purpose and an help, and the Edmonton Oilers prolonged their successful streak to 5 video games with a 5-3 victory towards the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place on Thursday.
McDavid scored at 2:10 of the third interval to present the Oilers a 4-3 lead. He skated previous Lightning defenseman Ian Cole on a rush, reduce to the online and stuffed the puck in.
The purpose was his NHL-leading thirty ninth of the season and prolonged his level streak to 9 video games (seven targets, seven assists). He has at the least one level in 26 of his previous 27 video games …
“He is fairly good, that is a pleasant transfer,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman mentioned. “The puck had eyes. I believed [Andrei Vasilevskiy] stopped the puck, nevertheless it bought by way of by some means. However he is a world-class participant, the very best within the League. He had 84 factors going into the sport and has 39 targets, and that claims so much about him as a participant.”
Video: TBL@EDM: McDavid nets thirty ninth of season in third interval
Zach Hyman scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had a purpose and an help, and Jack Campbell made 28 saves for Edmonton (26-18-3).
“The boldness has grown within the group, you possibly can really feel it on the ice, you possibly can really feel it across the room,” McDavid mentioned. “The boldness is an enormous factor. It’s a must to earn confidence and it goes again to taking it in the future at a time, and I believe we now have executed an excellent job of doing that for the reason that second half began right here.”
Brayden Level had a purpose and an help, Hedman had two assists, and Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for Tampa Bay (29-14-1), which had a five-game win streak finish.
“I actually appreciated our second interval, however we made a mistake on McDavid’s purpose on the top, we have been just a bit tentative within the play and he finds a method,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper mentioned. “Most guys do not rating that, however he finds a technique to do these issues and that is why he is a particular participant. We lacked a little bit push down the stretch there, we had the one energy play that did not work out for us. We fought till the top. It was an excellent sport, nevertheless it’s disappointing we did not get any factors out of this.”
Video: TBL@EDM: Level scores twenty seventh purpose of season in 2nd
Ryan McLeod scored at 6:13 of the primary interval to present the Oilers a 1-0 lead when he tipped some extent shot from defenseman Vincent Desharnais.
Draisaitl scored on the ability play at 16:43 to make it 2-0, one-timing a centering cross from McDavid.
Brandon Hagel reduce it to 2-1 at 1:30 of the second interval when he scored on the rebound after Alex Killorn‘s shot hit the purpose put up.
“It was simply two actually good, aggressive groups. Each have been coming in on win streaks and wished to maintain them going,” Hyman mentioned. “They got here out flat, I assume, however they’ve guys who wished to create a spark, they usually did. They got here again in that sport and tied it up. We pushed again too, which was good.”
Hyman made it 3-1 at 3:08 following a turnover by defenseman Haydn Fleury deep within the Lightning finish. Warren Foegele centered the puck to Hyman, whose first shot went extensive, however he scored on the rebound off the top boards.
Video: TBL@EDM: Hyman will increase Oilers’ lead in 2nd interval
Steven Stamkos introduced Tampa Bay inside 3-2 at 7:51, one-timing a cross from Level and scoring on the brief facet. It was his fourth purpose in two video games and prolonged his level streak to seven video games (5 targets, six assists).
Level tied it 3-3 at 12:03, re-directing a cross-ice cross from Hedman.
Hyman scored into an empty web at 17:48 for the 5-3 closing.
“We knew it was going to be a decent sport coming in,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft mentioned. “This is without doubt one of the League’s elite groups, and that is how we approached the third interval. We wished that to be our greatest interval.”
NOTES: Draisaitl, Vasilevskiy and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner have been among the many 12 gamers chosen within the 2023 NHL All-Star Fan Vote offered by Assured Fee to take part within the Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. … Edmonton ahead Mattias Janmark was a late scratch with an sickness and changed by Jesse Puljujarvi.
