Zach Hyman’s 51st goal of the season gave the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night.
The Jets had several good chances in the first few minutes of the game, forcing Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner to come up with several challenging saves.
Hyman had the Oilers’ best chance but was denied by the right pad of Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck.
Jets forward Sean Monahan rang a shot off the post in the final minute of the first.
Winnipeg’s Nik Ehlers had a breakaway two minutes into the second but his shot sailed over the net.
Mason Appleton banged in a rebound to make it 1-0 Jets 4:43 into the second.
Evander Kane had a breakaway for the Oilers, but Hellebuyck stopped both his initial shot and his crack at the rebound.
The Oilers broke through later in the second with two goals 1:43 apart. Leon Draisaitl took a pass from Warren Foegele and deposited his 38th of the season. Then Connor Brown sniped from the slot for his third.
“I thought our line was doing a lot of good things with the puck,” Brown said after the game. “It’s nice to be rewarded.”
Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended a 13-game goalless drought with a power-play marker early in the third.
The Jets replied with goals one minute apart from Brenden Dillon and Monahan to make it 3-3 with 9:21 on the clock.
Nugent-Hopkins went to the box for high-sticking with 2:06 left even though the replay showed Jets forward Adam Lowry was struck by the stick of his teammate Dylan DeMelo.
“Obviously everyone is worked up and upset with the call, but everyone is really mature and professional and they know they have a job to do,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“Once that puck is getting dropped for the start of the faceoff, everyone is dialled in and had forgotten what had happened.”
The Oilers killed off the penalty.
“The guys did a great job, whether it’s a call or not,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “You gotta kill it anyway.”
Hyman drove the net from the right side and slapped his own rebound past Hellebuyck to end it 1:22 into overtime. It was Hyman’s 200th career goal.
Skinner earned the win with 22 saves. Hellebuyck stopped 38 pucks.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid had two assists to get to 93 on the season.
The Oilers (43-23-4) will host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 7 p.m.