Stuart Skinner made 33 saves as the Edmonton Oilers scored a 3-2 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets Saturday night.
“I thought we hung in there in the first period,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. “They had the bulk of the play in that period, but we hung in — found a way to score the first goal of the game. And, as the game wore on, we got more and more competitive and found a way to win a road game in a tough building versus a tough lineup tonight. So, it’s a credit to everyone who was dressed. It took a lot of hard work and, obviously, it took all 65 minutes and then some.”
The Oilers opened the scoring with about five minutes left in the first when Tyler Benson fired a shot over Connor Hellebuyck’s glove. The Jets replied on a two-man advantage a couple of minutes later when Cole Perfetti jammed in the puck from the side of the net. Winnipeg outshot Edmonton 15-4 in the first.
The second period was scoreless. Dylan Holloway had the Oilers’ best chance, hitting the post on a shorthanded breakaway.
Perfetti scored another power play goal in the third. The Oilers came back on a two-man advantage. Philip Broberg passed to Dylan Holloway, who fired a cross ice pass to Jason Demers. His one-timer evened it 2-2.
An entertaining overtime solved nothing with Skinner coming up with three big saves for the Oilers.
Devin Shore scored the only goal of the shootout.
“In the preseason, we’ve alluded to it before, where you’re trying to establish your identity — both as an individual and as a team,” Shore said. “So, you look up at the shot clock and it might not look great, but for the guys that were here today, we had a job to do and we wanted to keep battling and grease one out, and we got a few bounces and Stew was great, so it’s nice to get a win.”
The Oilers, now 3-2 in the pre-season, will host Vancouver on Monday. Catch the game on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game will start at 7 p.m.