The big guns finally came through to blast the Edmonton Oilers out of their season-starting slump.
Leon Draisaitl scored 56 seconds into overtime and added an assist as the Oilers came from behind to finally record their first victory of the season, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Tuesday.
Connor McDavid had a breakaway in the overtime session, but was stopped by Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson, however he was able to pick up the rebound and send it in front to Draisaitl, who notched his second of the season.
“We are obviously scratching for some points here early on. Any point we can get is big and it was nice to come back and win the game,” Draisaitl said. “It’s always nice to get the first one out of the way and hopefully create some momentum, create some confidence in our group and just go from there.”
Adam Henrique, Connor Brown and Evan Bouchard also scored and McDavid had a pair of assists for the Oilers (1-3-0) who snapped a three-game losing skid to start the season during which they were outscored 15-3.
“I think through these games there are opportunities to respond and I think we did that tonight,” Henrique said. “The other night we had two goals called back and we had another tonight, but we did a good job responding. We kept responding and found a way to claw back into it.
“We capitalized on a great late goal and then a huge goal in overtime too for a big win for us.”
Edmonton was down 2-0 after the first period and 3-2 late in the third before Bouchard scored with 3:42 to play in the final frame to send the game to extra time.
It had been a surprisingly sorry start for Edmonton, which has high expectations this year after making it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season before losing out to the Florida Panthers.
“We’re confident in the character of our group, we’re confident in the abilities here,” Brown said.
“We just needed to get the ball rolling in the right direction so gritting one out like that is a huge step.”
The Oilers, who got off to a 2-9-1 start last season before turning the ship around, avoided what would have been just the third 0-4 start in franchise history.
“Our best players really came up clutch,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “The game-tying goal Leon makes a play on the wall, McDavid makes a pass and Bouchard scores. And obviously those guys were on the ice again for the game-winning goal.
“We need those guys to make key plays at key moments and they definitely did tonight.”
Matvei Michkov scored his first two NHL goals in just his third career game and Bobby Brink also replied for the Flyers (1-1-1) who have lost two straight.
“He’s a dynamic player, not just his passing but how he can hold on to a puck and get out of traffic,” said Flyers head coach John Tortorella about Michkov, Philadelphia’s seventh overall pick in 2023.
“I think it goes a long way with his teammates, he’s out here blocking shots also and doing all the other stuff that creates that team camaraderie, that team concept. That’s really important.”