McGinn's late tally lifts Coyotes over Oilers
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Jamie McGinn scored the winning goal with 3:44 left in regulation as the Arizona Coyotes continued their mastery over the Edmonton Oilers.
The 2-1 victory extended the Coyotes' run of success against Edmonton to 25-straight games without a loss in regulation (21-0-4).
The Oilers thought they would at least get it to overtime when Milan Lucic scored the tying goal at 10:39 of the third period, but McGinn found himself all alone by the side of the net to score the winner.
Edmonton controlled the first period by a significant margin, outshooting the Coyotes 13-6 and hemming the visitors in their own end on two power plays, but they still went into the first intermission trailing 1-0 after defenseman Kris Russell accidentally swatted a puck into his own net at 16:10.
The second period was much the same -- the shots were 26-16 after 40 minutes -- but once again the Oilers couldn't do anything with their puck possession and it remained 1-0 after two periods.
Edmonton pulled its goalie and had a couple of chances to tie it in the final seconds, but couldn't put anything past Arizona goaltender Mike Smith, who improved his record against the Oilers to 15-1-1.
NOTES: The last time the Oilers beat Arizona in regulation was in January of 2011, 25 games ago. ... Edmonton G Cam Talbot started his 21st game of the season. He leads the league in minutes played. ... The Coyotes own the worst road penalty killing in the NHL at 66.7%. ... Coyotes Radim Vrbata owns 43 career shootout goals, one off the league record. ... Oilers LW Milan Lucic put up five points in two games after being moved back to the first line with C Connor McDavid. ... Edmonton C Leon Draisaitl recorded five power play goals, third most in the NHL. ... Arizona RW Shane Doan is two goals away from becoming the 93rd player in NHL history to reach 400. Doan needs one more game to tie Wayne Gretzky in all-time games played (1,487). ... Oilers RW Tyler Pitlick was a healthy scratch to make room for Matt Hendricks.