In Nashville, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit for two power play goals for the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. His first tied the game, 2-2, in the middle frame, and the same in the early minutes of the third period to knot the game, 3-3, eventually forcing extra time with the Predators.
In the extra session, Alexandre Carrier scored at 2:12 for a 3-2 win to the Predators.
“[The Oilers] chipped it in; I don’t know why, I decided to stretch the ice, and [Cody Glass] made a good heads-up play,” Carrier said. “They were going for a change, and we got a 2-on-1. [Duchene) was on his one-timer, so I kind of looked him off, shot it and it went in.”
Nashville improved to 13-13-4, and ended a six-game schneid.
Juuse Saros made 30 saves in the Nashville win.
Nashville took an early 1-0 lad when Mattias Ekholm scored for a 1-0 advantage.
“We came out and played a really solid hockey game,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “We deserved to win the game. We did it. I think that’s the most important thing when you come out of tough stretches, is that sometimes you’re building your game and not getting results. When you do wind up getting results, it’s important because … it’s not like you hung on and found a way to win. We came out and played a real solid game.”
Four minutes later, the Oilers’ Jesse Puljujarvi tied the game, 1-1.
In the middle frame, Jordan Gross restored the Nashville lead at 2-1 at 2:57.
The Oilers dropped to 17-14-2.
“I think it speaks to the character of our group, the leadership of our group that we believe even if you’ve given up a goal that you can get right back at things,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. “The types of goals that we scored tonight were very good. We got contributions from a lot of people. We came into a tough building and got a point. We’re ready to take that and move on.”
Nugent-Hopkins tied it 2-2 a at 4:22.
“I thought we battled all game to give ourselves a chance and couldn’t get that second point,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “I thought we battled pretty hard. They played a solid, hard-working game and I thought we matched that well.”
Nashville found a power play goal, their first in seven games, when Matt Duchene scored for a 3-2 lead at 12:02.
“I would take a power-play goal any way we could get it,” Hynes said. “Just for those guys. We’re working so hard to try to find solutions. We know it needs to be better and it can be better. But at times when you kind of have a doughnut for a while, it seems like nothing is going to go in the net. So the fact we were able to get one tonight, hopefully we can now build off that.”
Jack Campbell made 31 saves. in the Edmonton loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.