In Toronto, the Edmonton Oilers found some self respect when Connor McDavid potted his second goal of the game with just 42 seconds gone in extra time for a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs, on Saturday night.
The Oilers improved to 4-6-0 with the win.
“I thought it was a good hockey game,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “The only thing that game was missing was fans, that would have made it a great game. The star players were in full force and I thought both teams competed hard, and we got a couple of good saves from [Koskinen] and we were able to capitalize in overtime.”
Mikko Koskinen made 26 saves to get the win.
“We stuck with it, we got a big [penalty] kill in the third and then we get that extra point,” the Oilers’ Tyson Barrie said. “Hopefully this is a big turning point for us and we can go on a bit of tear here.”
William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman were the Toronto strikers.
“I think it’s pretty positive 10 games in, sitting where we’re at,” Matthews said. “There is a lot of things that we can do better. I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of the best hockey that we can play collectively as a team. I think’s always encouraging as we move on during the season that we can play better, but that we’re still getting points and still winning.”
Dominik Kahun and Josh Archibald also scored in regulation for Edmonton.
“It’s a relief a little bit, because we’ve been playing really good in the [offensive] zone, we had so many chances,” Kahun said. “I finally got rewarded for that and I’m very happy.”
McDavid scored on the power play for his goal of the game, in regulation.
“I thought our guys did a really good job, we haven’t played from behind since the first game of the season,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “… We’ve had the lead and then gave up the lead and then had to get it back again to get the wins. Today was a little bit different. We had to push back, and it’s similar to what teams have done to us on this trip, we’ve had leads and they’ve come back and we’ve had to find a way to get a win. I was happy that our guys didn’t get rattled.”
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the loss.
“I think there’s different things that we could have done differently for sure,” the Maple Leafs’ Justin Holl said of the play. “A forward could wedge in the middle a little better, I think I could push him a certain direction better or maybe start skating forwards so at least I can try and chase him down. But that’s a tall order on McDavid. He’s a special player, and when he gets that time and space, he’s very dangerous and honestly that’s one you shrug off and you say, ‘He’s a great player.'”
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