The Edmonton Oilers are facing elimination after an epic collapse Sunday night in Winnipeg.
Leading 4-1 with nine minutes left in the third period, the Oilers lost 5-4 in overtime. The Jets lead the best-of-seven series 3-0.
“Tonight we learned some hard lessons on what not to do to win in the playoffs,” head coach Dave Tippett said after the game. “The two power-play goals were both critical mistakes by us. One, the penalty came after we didn’t get a puck in deep. And the Archibald penalty was just a poor penalty to take and it gave them some life.”
LISTEN BELOW: Dave Tippett
The Oilers dominated the first period, outshooting the Jets 17-7 and grabbing a 2-0 lead.
Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring by extending to tuck a puck in behind Connor Hellebuyck 6:33 into the game. Then, on a two-man advantage, Draisaitl ripped home a rebound. Connor McDavid assisted on both goals.
“Four goals in a playoff game should be enough to win the game, right? So that’s not an issue to score goals, we know how to do it; we’ve done it all year,” Draisaitl said. “It’s on the other side of the puck where we obviously have to figure it out.”
Mike Smith made a blocker save on Mason Appleton, who had a breakaway off an Oilers turnover six minutes into the second. The Jets broke through with 2:47 to go in the frame when Nik Ehlers beat Smith on the power play.
Zack Kassian replied 1:04 later, finishing off a three-on-two with Draisaitl and McDavid.
Jujhar Khaira recorded his first career post-season goal in the third, tipping Adam Larsson’s point shot past Hellebuyck.
With Josh Archibald in the box for tripping Logan Stanley, Mathieu Perreault kept the Jets’ hopes alive by scoring on the power play with 8:19 remaining. Blake Wheeler buried a rebound, then Josh Morrissey beat Smith with a long shot 16 seconds later. It was three goals in 3:03 for Winnipeg to pull even at 4-4.
With 10:47 left in overtime, Paul Stastny won an offensive zone faceoff to Ehlers, who snapped a shot over Smith’s glove.
“It’s obviously unfortunate,” McDavid said. “We’ve dug ourselves a really big hole, but — you know — take it one game at a time. That’s all we can do at this point. We’re not going to roll over and play dead on these guys. We’ve got to find a way to get a win tomorrow night, and we’ll take it from there.”
LISTEN BELOW: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl
Game 4 goes Monday night in Winnipeg. Coverage on 630 CHED starts with the Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7:45 p.m.
Comments