Oilers beat Ducks on Draisaitl's overtime goal
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers took a step toward the Pacific Division title, as they rallied from a late 2-1 deficit to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in overtime at Rogers Place Saturday.
Overtime came to an end when Leon Draisaitl scored off a pass from NHL leading scorer Connor McDavid, who had a goal and two assists on the night.
John Gibson, making his first appearance in the Ducks goal since March 10, made 34 saves. The Oilers outshot the Ducks 37-18.
The Oilers and Ducks are tied on points for the Pacific Division lead, four points ahead of the San Jose Sharks. But the Oilers hold the tiebreaker in regulation and overtime wins. The Ducks and Oilers each have four games left in their schedules.
The Oilers dominated the first period in terms of time spent in the offensive zone and shots on goal, but it took until 19:12 for the home side to break through.
McDavid extended his streak to 10 games with at least a point, as he buried a shot from the slot after Patrick Maroon made a great feed coming out from behind the net.
The Oilers outshot the Ducks 14-4 in the first period. But Gibson held his team in the game. He made a sprawling stop to deny McDavid just 30 seconds in, and also robbed Jordan Eberle with a quick glove save.
While Oilers goalie Cam Talbot only saw four shots, he also made a great glove save, robbing Corey Perry, who was talking to himself after his attempt from five feet out.
But the momentum turned early in the second, with the Ducks mounting the pressure, then tying the game at 3:27. On the power play, Ryan Getzlaf's point shot floated in just under the crossbar.
The Oilers had several chances to re-take the lead, but a couple of goalmouth scrambles didn't yield a goal. Gibson stretched himself out on the ice to get a stick on a Mark Letestu attempt from the lip of the crease.
Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen left the game in the second period and did not return.
Ryan Kesler looked like a sure thing to give the Ducks the lead four minutes into the third, but with nothing but an open net in front of him, his shot went off the bar.
But with 11:07 left in the third, the Ducks got their second power-play goal of the game, with Patrick Eaves needing only to tap the puck into an open net after a great feed from Antoine Vermette. Eaves, who has played for the Dallas Stars and the Ducks this season, has scored four times against the Oilers this season.
However, with 1:57 left and the Oilers on the power play, Gibson made a series of saves, but the puck finally fell to Milan Lucic in the crease and he made no mistake. Lucic's goal came off a rebound on a Draisaitl shot. With the assist, Draisaitl extended his consecutive points streak to 10 games, equaling McDavid.
NOTES: The Ducks scratched D Brandon Montour and C Logan Shaw. ... The Oilers scratched RW Iiro Pakarinen, D Matthew Benning, LW Jujhar Khaira and LW Anton Slepyshev. ... ... Oilers bench boss Todd McLellan coached his 700th career NHL game on Saturday. McLellan has won 385 of them. ... The Ducks have earned at least a point in 21 of their last 23 games against the Oilers.