Evan Bouchard scored 30 seconds into overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 road win over the Dallas Stars, Saturday afternoon.
“That was huge,” Bouchard said after the game. “We knew they were a good team; we had to play a really good game. We did that. That’s what makes us so special. We can compete with any team and now we know what we have in here.”
Connor McDavid had the best chance of the first period. He was alone in the front and went to the backhand with Jake Oettinger down and out. However, McDavid’s shot tinged off the goal post.
The teams combined for three goals in the first seven minutes of the second. Mason Marchment fired in a rebound on a power play to make it 1-0 Dallas. Just 55 seconds later, Bouchard wired a shot over Oettinger’s left shoulder. Calvin Pickard nearly made a spectacular save on a shot from a wide open Thomas Harley, but he couldn’t fully corral the puck and Dallas went up 2-1. The Oilers pulled even again when McDavid set up Corey Perry for a tap in.
“They’re two tremendous players, they see the ice very well,” Perry said. “I was a beneficiary on that goal and Leon making a great play across to him and Connor finding me back door. So, like I said, two world class players.”
Later in the second, the Oilers had a two-man advantage for 1:43 but weren’t able to score. They would get a goal on special teams when Derek Ryan converted a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a shorthanded two-on-one. The Stars came right back 20 seconds later when Matt Duchene tucked in a loose puck on a power play.
After a scoreless third, Leon Draisaitl was hooked by Wyatt Johnston early in overtime. On the ensuing power play, Draisaitl won the face-off to Bouchard, who promptly fired a wrister into the top corner.
“In the second period Dallas started taking over and was probably the better team,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I thought we regrouped after the second period and were able to put in a really strong period in the third. And a lot of credit to the guys where we talked about how dangerous Dallas is off the rush and score a lot of goals in that way. And I thought we did a really good job on the forecheck, d-pinching when it was there and when not to. And, ultimately, the biggest thing is probably the forwards — how hard they worked back.”
Pickard made 24 saves for his sixth straight win.
The Oilers, 32-18-1, will visit the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 12:30 p.m., game at 2 p.m.).
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