Two Edmonton-area goaltenders shone as the Philadelphia Flyers outlasted the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in a shootout Thursday night.
Sherwood Park’s Carter Hart made 34 saves for the Flyers while Stuart Skinner turned away 35 shots for his hometown Oilers.
“You know Stew made every save that we needed him to make there,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. “Even the first one, it goes off his stick and gets up over his shoulder. But he was great and really competitive and credit to their team and their goalie as well, because they played a hard game and their goalie played well too.”
The Flyers outplayed the Oilers in the first period and grabbed the lead on a goal by Kevin Hayes.
Evander Kane evened it up before the second period was two minutes old.
He took a drop pass from Connor McDavid and fired a shot in off the glove of Carter Hart. Kane had another great chance only ten seconds later, but Hart slid across to make the stop.
Travis Sanheim had a point-blank chance for the Flyers late in the period, but Skinner shot out his glove for the denial.
The Oilers briefly celebrated a lead when Zach Hyman stuffed in a rebound 7:24 into the third, but the Flyers successfully challenged for goalie interference.
Video review showed Warren Foegele bumped Hart as he drove through the crease. With 46 seconds left, Noah Cates appeared to have most of the net to shoot at, but Skinner reached out for a great blocker save.
The teams traded chances in overtime with Skinner and Hart both coming up with big saves.
“I thought we definitely did enough to win that — fell short in the shootout,” Skinner said. “I mean it’s tough to win a shootout when I’m letting in two, so it’s something for me to work on.”
Morgan Frost and James van Riemsdyk scored in the shootout for the Flyers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tallied for the Oilers.
McDavid extended his point streak to 14 games.
The Oilers, 29-18-5, will visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The 630 CHED Face-off Show begins at 9 a.m., game at 10:30 a.m.