In Edmonton, the Oilers continued their hot streak with their eighth straight win on Tuesday night, 4-1, over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Connor McDavid picked up two assists in the to extend his point streak to 10 games.
Stuart Skinner made 22 saves in the win.
“I don’t think we were solid defensively in the first period,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “In the second and third, I thought we were very solid. It was just one of those games where we weren’t quite ready to play.
“It’s tough. Chicago is not having the best start to the season and they also had a lot of injuries, which makes it really tough.”
The Oilers moved over .500 at 13-12-1.
“Any time you win it is fun, and it is fun doing it the right way, with the goals-against and limiting chances and things like that,” Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said. “That’s the key to success and [it’s] something we have harped on and is the reason we are on this little run.”
Connor Bedard was the lone striker for the Blackhawks, his goal at 3:21 of the opening stanza gave them a 1-0 lead.
“You watch it on video lots because any time you open Instagram, it’s the first thing that comes up, his shot,” Skinner said. “He made a nice move, it was a very nice shot. Give the kid his props.”
The Blackhawks dropped to 9-18-1.
“It [stinks] because it stings losing, and losing 4-1, it seems like we might have gotten dominated,” Chicago’s Jason Dickinson said. “But I really didn’t feel like we were.”
The Oilers tied the game, 1-1, midway through the first on a strike by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Sam Gagner added a marker at 18:19 of the first to give the Oilers a 2-1 advantage headed to the middle frame.
Leon Draisaitl scored at 13:22 of the middle frame for a 3-1 lead to the Oilers
“Draisaitl’s a great player and he gets some of those bounces sometimes,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “He zips that hard, too, he doesn’t float the saucer over there, otherwise that’s just knocked down. He zings it, and if Zaitsev doesn’t get his stick on it, maybe it’s a backdoor chance.
“So, unfortunately, he had to put his stick there. It surprised Petr and there’s no chance for Petr then.”
Hyman hit off the power play with 43 seconds gone in the third period for the 4-1 final count.
Petr Mrazek made 25 saves in the loss.
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