Oilers sweep season series with Jets
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers gave themselves a little breathing room in the Western Conference playoff race Sunday by sweeping their season series with the Winnipeg Jets with a 3-2 victory.
The Jets were anxious to get back at it after losing 6-2 the night before in Calgary while the Oilers wanted to turn themselves in the right direction after losing three straight games on the road.
Only Edmonton got what it needed out of 60 tough minutes.
Mark Letestu, who's scored five of his six goals this season against Winnipeg, tied it on a power play at 2:28 of the third period, then took credit for the go-ahead goal when Patrik Laine ripped one into his own net by accident.
Laine was trying to clear the rebound after Letestu put a shot off goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and ended up putting a rocket into his own net.
Winnipeg opened the scoring at 14:50 of the first period on an easy tap in for center Mathieu Perrault after linemate Bryan Little hit the post from close range. Perrault's second of the season came 17 games after his first and gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Jets have been terrible in the second period this year (outscored 43-20) and it didn't take long for the Oilers to jump on them. Oscar Klefbom snapped a Tyler Pitlick rebound home to tie it 1-1 at 1:53.
The Jets fought back, though, literally. Not long after getting out of the penalty box for a fight with Zack Kassian, Winnipeg's Chris Thorburn scored on a one-timer to restore the one-goal lead.
Minutes after that, Kassian scored on a breakaway himself to square it up again ... but a video review wiped it out because of an off-side call.
NOTES: The Jets played their first 32 games of the season in 60 days, a record for that franchise. ... The Oilers have also been in an early-season grind, playing 18 games in 32 days. ... Both teams were playing their sixth games in nine days. ... Sunday's game featured four of the top 16 point getters in the NHL, with Connor McDavid (1st) and Leon Draisaitl (15th) for Edmonton and Mark Scheifele (10th) and Patrik Laine (16th) for Winnipeg. ... The Jets had to kill 109 penalties in their first 31 games, tied for the higest total in the league. ... The Jets have been outscored 43-20 in the second period this year. ... The Oilers sat out their oldest and youngest players for this game -- 35-year-old RW Matt Hendricks and 18-year-old RW Jesse Puljujarvi, who was out of the lineup for the fifth time in seven games.