In Edmonton, the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to have problems winning games but at least came away with a loser’s point in a 3-2 loss to the Oilers in the skills competition.
Connor McDavid netted the deciding goal, his first shootout goal of his NHL career, to lift the Oilers to the win.
Connor McDavid – Photo by Jack Lima
“I just do whatever [in the shootout],” McDavid said. “I should probably plan it out a little bit better. I just do what feels right, I guess.”
McDavid has not taken many shootout attempts in his brief career and he is now 1-for-5.
“I knew he was going to stickhandle a lot and I thought I had it,” Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop said. “He put it right between my shoulder and glove. I just kind of tried to be patient, I didn’t really go down. I thought I had it and, obviously, he put it in a good spot.”
Cam Talbot got the win on 31 saves.
“There are some areas that we need to improve on, but it is a win. It’s a comeback win,” Edmonton head coach Todd McLellan said. “We’ve been on the other end of those lately so it is nice to come back and tie one up in the third period and win in a shootout instead of being on the other end.”
Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic scored in regulation for the Oilers.
WATCH: All Lightning vs. Oilers highlights
“It’s a huge [win] when you look at how tight the standings are,” Lucic said. “To be able to get two points tonight was great.”
Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson had the Bolts’ goals in regulation.
“We figured that tonight could really have gone either way,” Johnson said. “We had some opportunities. [Vladislav Namestnikov] hits the crossbar in overtime, so I think we’re happy with our game tonight.”
Drouin also scored a goal in the shootout.
“It’s better. It’s not where we want it to be, but still, I think tonight’s a great step in the right direction. In the third, I thought we played them really tight,” Drouin said. “They didn’t have much going on, one power-play goal off a nice tip. It was a good game for us.”
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