An abbreviated sweep of the NHL from Thursday night starts n Montreal where the Edmonton Oilers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to post a 4-3 win in extra time over the Canadiens.
Anton Lander picked up the game-winner for the Oilers
It was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ second goal of the game with 25 seconds left in regulation that sent the game to overtime.
The oilers had pulled Viktor Fasth for an extra attacker; Fasth made 23 saves for the win.
Thinking the Oilers were something of a pushover, the Habs started Dustin Tokarski who made 34 saves in the loss.
Max Pacioretty, Christian Thomas (his first NHL goal) and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal.
Matt Hendricks also scored for the Oilers who remain in last place in the west but there is a feel about the team’s effort and psyche over the past two weeks that suggests they have turned a corner on their maturation
In Tampa, the St Louis Blues used a goal and two assists from Alexander Steen to double-up the Lightning, 6-3, and continue to put pressure on the leaders in the west and put distance between themselves and the Chicago Blackhawks.
T.J. Oshie, Dmitrij Jaskin, David Backes, and Paul Stastny scored for the Blues and Vladimir Tarasenko found the empty net to seal the win.
Brian Elliott had 26 saves in the win. The Bolts’ Ben Bishop made 29 saves but was relieved after two periods by Andrej Vasilevskiy who stopped nine shots in his stint.
In Uniondale, Jaroslav Halak won his 30th of the year with 32 saves as the Islanders clipped the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2.
The Isles got two goals from Anders Lee and one from Casey Cizikas for all the offense they would need to support Halak.
Richard Panik and Trevor Smith scored for the Leafs who are now 0-11-1 in their last 12 road games.
Jonathan Bernier was shelled with 41 shots on net for the night, making 38 saves.
The Leafs continue their nearly inexorable decline and there is little hope that their 23-29-4 record can be reversed any time soon. At some point management will need to make some difficult, on their face value, choices with the roster and determine when the fire sale takes place. The likes of Phil Kessel, with no production again but at least was not a minus-3, cannot be sustained on a team looking for a leader or a motivator.
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