VANCOUVER – The Edmonton Oilers are starting to feel good about themselves.
Lauri Korpikoski scored on a breakaway at 1:46 of 3-on-3 overtime Sunday as the Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 2-1.
After dropping the season’s first four games, Edmonton has now won two straight on the road following a 5-2 victory against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. “But we have guys believing now in each other and perhaps in the system.”
Nail Yakupov scored in regulation for Edmonton (2-4-0), while backup goalie Anders Nilsson was stellar in making 33 saves in his second start.
“It’s really nice. It feels great,” said Oilers forward Connor McDavid, who assisted on Yakupov’s opener. “These are big points, divisional game. These are the ones that add up later on.”
Korpikoski’s winner was his second of the season and beat Canucks goalie Ryan Miller through the pads on a shot that just dribbled over the goal line after to some end-to-end action in the extra period.
“It’s really easy to lose a guy and it’s a breakaway or some missed coverage and they get a chance,” Korpikoski said of the new OT rules. “It’s fun when you have the puck, but not so much when you don’t.”
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Matt Bartkowski scored in regulation for Vancouver (3-1-2), which got 22 saves from Miller and fell to 0-1-2 at home.
“We probably deserved more” said Miller. “We had some good looks. We just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
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Tied 1-1 through 40 minutes, Canucks forward Daniel Sedin was left shaking his head early in the third period after somehow chipping a puck that was lying in the crease over the Oilers’ goal with Nilsson down and out following a great stop on a Henrik Sedin breakaway seconds earlier.
“It happened so quick. I tried to tap it in and it bounced over,” said Daniel Sedin. “It’s tough. It’s one of those games. We played well enough to win.”
The Oilers were equally stunned at the miss, which will likely find its way onto some top-10 blooper lists in years to come.
“It’s a break we needed,” said McLellan. “You don’t get those often. That could be the only true break we get in a long, long time … but at least we took advantage of it.”
Edmonton opened the scoring at 3:23 of the first period on the power play after some excellent work from McDavid. The No. 1 pick at June’s draft, who had two goals and an assist in Calgary, picked up the puck in the neutral zone and stepped around a check before feeding Yakupov for his second of the season.
Vancouver tied it at 15:43 when Bartkowski scored his first regular-season goal in the NHL. Playing in his 138th game, the defenceman fired a shot from the point that nicked an Edmonton player on the way through and found its way past Nilsson.
The Canucks entered Sunday 8-2-0 against the Oilers over the clubs’ last 10 meetings, including a perfect 5-0-0 record last season, and had plenty of chances to grab the lead in the second period.
Daniel Sedin had two opportunities, Brandon Sutter sent a backhand wide, and Sven Baertschi saw his breakaway stopped by Nilsson.
Miller had to be sharp at the other end with about eight minutes to go in the period, stopping Korpikoski on back-to-back opportunities from in close, but he wouldn’t be denied in overtime.
“We won games different ways,” said McLellan.
“(Saturday) night I thought we were the better team. I’m not sure we were the better team (Sunday), but we found a way.”
Notes: Edmonton opens a three-game homestand Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings. … Vancouver continues its five-game homestand Thursday against the Washington Capitals. … Bartkowski’s only other goal came in Game 7 of the Boston Bruins’ memorable first-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2013.
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