In Edmonton Tuesday night, the Oilers used a three-goal third period to break open a tight game with the Montreal Canadiens, for a 6-2 win.
The win ended a four-game skid that had the potential to get ugly in and out of the locker room.
“We went after our team pretty good and held them accountable (Monday) and it was a good response game,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “It shows me that they’re attentive, their intent is strong and direct and good. They care about each other and that’s a good sign. Taking that lesson and playing tonight’s game is great, but the lesson has to arrive earlier so that the four-game losing streak is only a two-game losing streak or a three game. But we’re still a team in evolution and we’re learning lessons as we go. Stopped it at four instead of five, so that’s positive.”
The Oilers responded Tuesday night with six different skaters scoring.
Leon Draisaitl, Matt Benning, Drake Caggiula, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kris Russell, and Darnell Nurse scored for Edmonton.
“This win is good for the confidence,” Nurse said. “We have to see what we did to make it happen and those are going to be habits that we need to continue to work on. Our defensemen have to be able to put pucks to the net, allowing our forwards to get after it. We (defensemen) found a way to get a few in too, which is good.”
Mikko Koskinen made 27 saves to get the win.
Andrew Shaw had a goal and assist, and Max Domi sc
“When you have guys (McDavid and Draisaitl) like that on the other team and you give them odd-man rushes, they are going to capitalize. We were awful tonight. We spent way too much time in our own end and didn’t take their speed away,” Shaw said.
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Oilers highlights]
Antti Niemi made 37saves in the loss.
“It was called a no-show on our part,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “We are a fast skating team, so it wasn’t about speed, but their team looked pretty fast when you give them the room that we did tonight. We didn’t show up. It was a tough night, by far our worst game of the year. We have to, hopefully, write it off and move on.”
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