Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers snapped their four-game losing streak Tuesday night with a 6-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Place.
“We didn’t show up,” Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said after the game.” It was a tough night — by far our worst game of the year, so you’ve got to kind of hopefully write it off, move on and focus on the next game.”
Oilers defenceman Matt Benning opened the scoring 3:13 into the game. His point shot went wide but came off the back boards, hit Canadiens goaltender Antti Niemi and skidded over the goal line.
“The biggest thing was to get the first goal in the game,” Benning said. “Our team was rolling after that.”
The Canadiens came back less than three minutes later when Max Domi rifled his tenth of the season over the shoulder of Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen.
Late in the period, Oilers captain Connor McDavid squeezed by the Habs’ David Schlemko along the boards and set up Draisaitl in front, who cashed in his eleventh of the year. Draisaitl had hit the post twice earlier in the period.
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Andrew Shaw tied for the Canadiens early in the second period.
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Drake Caggiula put the Oilers back ahead when he snuck a shot through Niemi less than two minutes later.
Niemi was strong the rest of the period, making sparkling saves on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl. Koskinen wasn’t as busy but denied Montreal forward Artturi Lehkonen on a shorthanded breakaway.
LISTEN BELOW: Oilers head coach Todd McLellan reflects on the Oilers 6-2 win over Montreal.
Nugent-Hopkins ended a nine-game goalless drought when he sniped his fourth of the season 5:36 into the third.
Oilers defenceman Kris Russell potted his first goal in 43 games with 7:46 left. Kevin Gravel had an assist on the play for his first point as an Oiler.
“I don’t think we played them hard enough,” Shaw said after the game. “We let them get their speed. We let them make plays.
“When you give guys like that those odd-man rushes, they’re going to capitalize,” he added. “We were awful tonight.”
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse added another goal with 1:56 to go.
In all, Oilers defencemen accounted for three of the Oilers’ six goals. After the game, Nurse said that kind of production needs to continue.
“Those habits that gave us those goals tonight, those are going to be important to maintain,” he said.
McDavid had three assists while Koskinen made 27 saves to improve to 4-1.
Oilers forward Toby Rieder didn’t play the third period. McLellan said he could only confirm that it was an upper-body injury and that Rieder would be re-evaluated on Wednesday.
The Oilers (9-8-1) visit Calgary on Saturday for the first installment of the Battle of Alberta this season.
–With files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott and Scott Johnston
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