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Edmonton Oilers beat Anaheim Ducks on Leon Draisaitl's overtime goal

By The Sports Xchange
Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl falls over and reaches out for the puck. File photo by BIll Greenblatt/UPI
Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl falls over and reaches out for the puck. File photo by BIll Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Ryan Getzlaf blew a tire and the Edmonton Oilers capitalized.

The Anaheim Ducks captain fell down and coughed up the puck in overtime, giving Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl a two-on-one break. Draisaitl converted a perfect pass from McDavid at 1:26, and the Oilers rallied to beat the Ducks 3-2 on Saturday at Rogers Place.

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McDavid had a goal and two assists, bringing his NHL-leading point total to 94.

The Oilers pulled even with the Ducks for the Pacific Division lead, four points up on the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks and Oilers each have four games left on their schedules, but the Oilers hold the tiebreaker on regulation and overtime wins.

"It's not a good feeling, that's for sure," said Getzlaf, who scored the Ducks first goal of the game. "It's my responsibility to take care of that puck. I turned a little bit too sharp, I caught my foot, so those things happen and I've got to live with it and go on tomorrow."

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"Kind of lucky that he fell," McDavid said. "I just tried to pounce on the puck and get a good first step."

The Oilers won nine of their 10 games with McDavid and Draisaitl recording points in each contest.

"I've had the honor of being around some tremendous players in my day," said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. "(Pavel) Datsyuk, (Joe) Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Sidney Crosby. Connor is at a very, very high level right now. He's separating himself from a lot of people in the league right now, and I say that with a lot of respect for the others. But he is just remarkable right now."

John Gibson, making his first appearance in the Ducks goal since March 10, made 34 saves. The Oilers outshot the Ducks 37-18, and came back from a 2-1 deficit late in third period.

Cam Talbot got his 40th win of the season in the Oilers net, tying the team record held by Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr.

"Any time you're name is anywhere near Grant Fuhr's name, that's pretty special," Talbot said. "To be on that list is a pretty big achievement. It just shows the kind of team we have this year and how we have come together and how we've played."

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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 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 30 seconds in, and also robbed Jordan Eberle with a quick glove save.

Talbot only saw four shots but made a great glove save by 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 and tying the game at 3:27. Getzlaf's point shot floated in just under the crossbar on the power play.

The Oilers had several chances to retake the lead, but a couple 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.

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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 played for the Dallas Stars and the Ducks this season, 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 of a Draisaitl shot.

"It stings because we take a penalty late in the third period," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't get the puck out along the wall and we (Vermette) took a lazy hooking penalty that we basically forced the referee to call. We had a couple of opportunities to clear the puck on the penalty kill, and we don't get it down the ice."

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Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen left the game in the second period and did not return.

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, winning his 386th. ... The Ducks earned at least a point in 21 of their last 23 games against the Oilers.

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