The ‘It Shouldn’t Have Been That Close Tour’ finished the way it started, with the Edmonton Oilers doing just enough to eke out a dramatic overtime win over a team you’d expect them to beat in their sleep.
A day after needing a last-minute equalizer and an overtime winner to get past St. Louis, the Oilers needed a power play in overtime to sneak out of Chicago with a 4-3 decision over the bottom-feeding Blackhawks.
“Three on three play, we’re obviously built for it, we have some players who excel in that situation,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “It’s unfortunate that we were in that situation both nights but they found a way, which is nice.
“We got away with a lot of things that we have to clean up.”
With four wins in their last 20 games and the second-worst goal differential in the NHL, the Blackhawks are little more than a train wreck in cool uniforms. But they’ve given the Oilers all kinds of trouble this year, splitting the first two meetings of the season (winning 5-2 and losing 4-3) and making the Oilers look pretty ordinary in Wednesday’s rubber match.
Edmonton simply couldn’t shake the second-worst team in the NHL from the start. It was 0-0 after the first period and 1-1 after the second. The Oilers led 3-1 with eight minutes to play in the third on Leon Draisaitl’s 38th goal of the season and singles from Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner, and should have had things well in hand.
Should have. But they coughed up the lead on goals from Ryan Donato at 12:12 and Alec Martinez at 16:16.
And the Hawks came a crossbar away from winning it in regulation. But, in the end, it was a power play in overtime that closed the deal for Edmonton, with Zach Hyman redirecting a pass from Connor McDavid 1:36 into the extra period.
The Oilers had four power plays to one for the Blackhawks but it still came down to the last shot of the night.
“It’s a long season, it’s not fair to think that we’re going to be 100 per cent every night,” said Knoblauch. “We’re happy that we got our two points and we’ll leave town with them.”
The win moves Edmonton four points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division.
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