In Glendale, the visiting Edmonton Oilers’ Mikko Koskinen made 27 saves to help backstop them to a 4-3 overtime win over the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday night.
“It’s a huge win. This is a really big road trip for us,” Koskinen said. “This [win] tells a lot about us, that we’re never giving up.”
Markus Granlund‘s goal in the waning minutes of the third period forced the game to extra time.
Connor McDavid was the only goal scorer in the skills portion of the evening’s events after the extra session went scoreless.
“We didn’t have much gas in the tank, you could tell,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “Players are coming back to the bench and they’re looking at you like, `I’m trying, I really am,’ and there’s not much there. It was a tough turnaround from a hard, physical game. But it was a good two days for us.”
Carl Soderberg, Christian Fischer and Vinnie Hinostroza scored for the Coyotes.
“I thought we did an OK job,” Fischer said. “But going into the [third] period with a one-goal lead, we need to find a way. These are crucial points.”
James Neal opened the scoring to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
Alex Goligoski assisted on all three Coyotes goals.
“I liked our third period until that [Granlund] goal,” Goligoski said. “I don’t think we were sitting on our heels. We had a lot of rushes that had chances to put that game away too. But they got that one and made it to overtime, where anything can happen.”
Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers.
[WATCH: All Oilers vs. Coyotes highlights]
Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves in the loss.
“It was a really good third period for us [until Granlund’s goal]; I thought we were in control of the game,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “Those guys (McDavid and Draisaitl) are horses, and I thought we did a good job on them. That’s a tough order to shut those guys down.”
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