After allowing six goals on 28 shots in Calgary on Saturday night, Mikko Koskinen was looking for a strong bounce-back game.
It came Tuesday night in Ottawa.
The lanky netminder made 40 saves as the Edmonton Oilers scratched out a 3-2 win over the Senators.
“He made some real timely saves for us,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said after the game.
“They threw a lot of pucks at the net there in the third period.”
The Oilers improve to 8-7, getting over .500 for the first time this season.
The Senators scored in the first minute on their first shot of the game when Connor Brown tipped a puck under Koskinen.
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse tied it less than four minutes later when his long slapper eluded Ottawa netminder Marcus Hogberg.
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Late in the period, Edmonton defenceman Evan Bouchard wristed a long shot through a screen and past Hogberg for his first of the season.
Edmonton blue-liner Tyson Barrie made it 3-1 Oilers early in the second, chasing Hogberg from the Senators’ net after allowing three goals on 13 shots. Matt Murray took over in goal for Ottawa.
“We’re starting to put some games together and play with a little more confidence,” said Barrie, who now has 11 points in 15 games since signing a one-year contract with the Oilers this off-season.
“I think we’re pushing the pace a lot more, and that’s the way our team has to play if we’re going to be successful.”
Senators forward Evgeni Dadonov scored a breakaway goal early in the third to pull Ottawa within one. The Senators pulled Murray with just over a minute to go but couldn’t find the tying goal.
The Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid saw their 10-game point streaks end. Draisaitl hit the post with nine seconds left. McDavid had a shot at the empty net blocked just before time expired.
The Senators outshot the Oilers 30-10 over the final two periods.
The Oilers will play in Montreal on Thursday.
–With files from 630 CHED’s David Boles
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