The Edmonton Oilers lost in overtime to the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday (October 30), falling 4-3 at Rogers Place.
Defenseman Darnell Nurse lit the lamp twice for Edmonton, while Oilers forward Matthew Savoie scored his first goal of the NHL regular season. Stuart Skinner made 30 saves between the pipes for the home side.
JT Miller scored the winner in extra time for the Rangers, who also got goals from Jonny Brodzinski, Taylor Raddysh and Braden Schneider. New York netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced.
Edmonton now has a record of 5-4-3 for 13 points. The Oilers are tied for third place in the Pacific Division standings with the Seattle Kraken.
Oil companies still lack a 60-minute effort
In seven of their previous eight games before Thursday, the Oilers trailed by at least two goals at some point during the game. In fact, Edmonton had managed to rally from a two-goal deficit in three of its previous four games, leading 2-1-1 in that span.
Thursday was the opposite of how things have been going for the Oilers of late. This time, Edmonton was the team with a two-goal lead, leading by a score of 3-1 after Nurse’s second goal of the night at 10:24 of the second period. Unfortunately for the Oilers, they were also the ones to blow a two-goal lead this time, as Schneider and Raddysh scored at 8:18 and 12:04 respectively of the third period to even draw the Rangers at 3-3.
On the brink of a well-deserved win that could be used to build some much-needed momentum, the Oilers instead went to overtime where they suffered a deserved defeat, leaving fans once again wondering why this team can’t put together a 60-minute effort.
The Oilers power play fails to capitalize
Edmonton’s power play has been very good lately, going 6-for-14 in the past five games before Thursday. That continued against the Rangers, as the Oilers struck again with the man advantage Savoie scored after a goal at 8:48 of the second period, giving Edmonton a 2-1 lead. But when the moment was at its greatest on Thursday, Edmonton’s power play broke down.
The Oilers had a glorious opportunity when Rangers center Mika Zibanejad was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for high-sticking at 19:19 of the third period. Edmonton started overtime with 79 seconds of four-on-three, but despite Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid being on the ice, the Oilers could only get one shot on goal in sudden death before Zibanejad’s penalty expired. Not long after, at 2:49 of overtime, Miller drove to the Edmonton net and went backhand-to-forehand to put the puck past Skinner.
“We had one great look, but that’s not enough in a minute (and) 20 (seconds),” said Bouchard of the failed power play.
Bouchard’s struggle continues
Luckily for Bouchard, Thursday was the last time Edmonton played in October, as this has been a spectacularly awful month for the beleaguered blueliner.
Related: Did Oilers’ Bouchard play himself out of a spot on Team Canada?
With several stinkers already under his belt this fall, Bouchard had another night to forget against the Rangers. The 26-year-old caused a turnover that led to New York’s first and third goals. Then, on the winning goal, he opted not to include Miller, giving the Rangers captain a clear path to Skinner. Bouchard finished the game with a plus/minus rating of minus-3 for the third time this season.
After twelve games, Bouchard has a minus-9 rating, tied for third among all defensemen in the NHL. He hasn’t helped much offensively either, with a total of seven points, which is well below his 0.91 points per game performance over the past two seasons.
Nurse almost gets a hat trick
On the plus side, Nurse had a great all-around game, highlighted by the fourth two-goal game of his NHL career.
Nurse, who is now 12e Season with the Oilers, nearly became the first Edmonton defenseman to record a hat trick since Marc-Andre Bergeron on Jan. 14, 2006. The veteran had two shots stopped by Shesterkin late in the third period as he tried to restore Edmonton’s lead after the Rangers tied things up. If the Oilers had been able to defend their lead and the Rangers had signed Shesterkin for an extra attacker, Nurse likely would have been on the ice, and you have to think his teammates would have wanted to set him up for his third goal.
The 30-year-old Nurse also had four goals in the game. He is the first Oilers defenseman to score multiple goals while recording at least four shots and at least four hits in the same game since the NHL officially began keeping track of goals in 2005-06.
Edmonton returns to action on Saturday (November 1) when the Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Oilers have yet to lose in regulation at Rogers Place this season, where they are 3-0-2 thus far.
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