GAME RECAP: Devils 3, Oilers 2

NEWARK, NJ – Forward Jesper Bratt and defenceman Simon Nemec scored 1:25 apart for the New Jersey Devils in the third period to sink the Edmonton Oilers to their second straight loss on Thursday night with a 3-2 defeat at Prudential Center.

Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to a career-best 16 games with his league-leading 47th goal of the campaign in the second period before Evan Bouchard's third goal in four contests pushed his own personal streak to seven to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead with over 15 minutes left in regulation.

The Devils scored twice through traffic less than two minutes apart with over half the third period still to play to restore their advantage, ultimately condemning the Oilers to a 3-2 defeat and their second loss on this four-game road trip through New Jersey and New York.

"It's disheartening that it happened the way it did," Head Coach Kris Knobauch said. "I thought our guys put in a really good effort in the first 40 minutes. Either way, I think it was pretty an even game and back and forth in the third period. I thought we really pushed hard and had a lot of good scoring chances."

Bratt had a goal and two assists for the Devils, and Nemec's first goal of the season wound up as the game winner.

Captain Connor McDavid had two assists in the defeat to extend his assist streak to nine games, while goaltender Stuart Skinner made 18 saves on 21 shots as the Oilers fell to 37-24-4 this season and 3-8-0 in their last 11 games.

"It's one day at a time," defenceman Brett Kulak said. "There are things we did well tonight. You've got to focus on that. It's back to back, so the puck's gonna be dropping again before we know it, so you better feel good and be ready to go."

Edmonton now looks ahead to the second of back-to-back games at UBS Arena against the Islanders on Friday night.

"You've got to work through it," forward Adam Henrique said. "Sometimes, it just takes those ugly ones to get you going the right direction and be able to build, so we've got another opportunity tomorrow and we'll have a good pushback."

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers did a good job over two penalty kills in the first period to limit the Devils to only two shots on the man advantage, while looking like the team more liable to score in the opening 20 minutes with an 8-6 shot advantage after the red-hot Leon Draisaitl created two dangerous scoring chances.

New Jersey's best opportunity came in the opening two minutes on a two-on-one that resulted from defenceman Jake Walman trying to get into the play before the puck was turned over inside the Devils’ blueline to create the odd-man rush. However, the Devils weren’t able to get a shot on goal when captain Nico Hischier tried to force it into the blue paint to teammate Timo Meier.

Draisaitl came into Thursday’s contest riding a career-best 15-game point streak and had a great look at making it 16 by cutting around the Devils defenceman on his backhand and moving it to his forehand to force goalie Jake Allen into a smart save.

Darnell Nurse tripped up Dawson Mercer coming into the slot for Edmonton’s first infraction before the midway mark of the frame, then winger Max Jones was assessed a hard-luck interference call nearly three-and-a-half minutes later to send the Oilers back to the penalty kill.

Edmonton went 2-for-2 on the kill in the period and had their best opportunity following their second kill with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid on the ice together with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, as the German was able to filter a pass into the blue paint from the left side that led to two dangerous in-tight chances.

On their last look of the period, Evan Bouchard struck the outside of the right post with less than a minute left to help the Devils escape to the break with the game tied at 0-0.

SECOND PERIOD

Stuck in a hard place on ‘The Rock’ down 1-0 on Brett Pesce’s opening goal in the middle stanza, the task fell to Leon Draisaitl and Stuart Skinner to pull the Oilers back to a 1-1 tie heading into the final frame.

The Devils did strike first 3:56 into the frame when Pesce cleaned up a loose puck in front after Jesper Bratt’s shot from the top of the circles caused havoc in front of Stuart Skinner with Erik Haula battling in front against Troy Stecher.

New Jersey would’ve taken a two-goal lead almost three minutes later if it weren’t for a remarkable sliding save from Stuart Skinner on a two-on-one between Haula and Bratt, coming across to get his blocker to Haula’s high-danger effort and keep it 1-0 for the hosts.

The Oilers continued to blend their lines in the second period and had Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together on a line with Zach Hyman, which made a big impact after the German forward was able to stretch his incredible career-best point streak to the lofty heights of 16 games.

"Obviously that's something we've done to quite a bit," Knoblauch said of the line changing. "We haven't been getting offence from other guys, and just when those guys are together, you control the offensive zone... It's much easier for them when they're feeding off each other playing. If you need a goal, most likely they can give us one."

Edmonton found the equalizer just past the midway mark of the period off an interception by Kulak to keep it in at the blueline before McDavid found Draisaitl walking down on the left side. With Hyman parked at the back post, Draisaitl elected to shoot and placed it through the armpit of Jake Allen for his league-leading 47^th goal and his 98^th point of the season.

Draisaitl stretched his point streak to a career-high 16 games, totalling 12 goals and 12 assists, and needs just two points and three more goals for his fourth straight 50-goal, 100-point campaign and sixth career 100-point year.

THIRD PERIOD

The Devils went down to the Oilers zone, and they were looking for a game to steal.

Despite the Oilers finding a way in front on Evan Bouchard’s 13^th goal of the season 4:18 into the final frame, the Devils would pull back into the lead over a 1:25 span of the third period to restore their advantage for good on Thursday night.

"I think we just started giving them too much time in zone, and they took a little bit of momentum from that," Brett Kulak said. "I think we've just got to do a better job closing time and space and not letting pucks get to the net."

It was a bright start to the third period for Edmonton, owning the majority of possession and chances in the early going before Bouchard was able to sift in a shot from the top of the zone through traffic to put his side ahead 2-1 with over 15 minutes left in regulation. Bouchard notched third goal in four games, extending his own point streak to seven (4G, 3A) on a seeing-eye shot past Allen with Hyman helping provide the screen in front.

"It was nice to see that we came out well in the third period and had some chances," Knoblauch said. "We got the goal from Bouchard with a nice shot and Hyman in front."

But then, the darkness came.

"I guess the turning point in the third period is we have an offensive zone faceoff and we play for a little bit, but we turn the puck over in the neutral zone against their top line that's been loaded up and that in turn leads to us playing defensive."

The Devils were able to turn it back on the Oilers on two shots through traffic from the top of the zone from Jesper Bratt and Simon Nemec at 6:50 and 8:25 of the final frame, respectively, to give the hosts the 3-2 advantage with over half the period still to play.

"They get those two at the net that find a way in," Henrique said. "I thought we did a good job with the pushback, but we couldn't find a way to get that next one to even when we were up. We just gotta find a way to get a couple ugly goals."

Bratt came around the right circle and fired it through the five-hole of Stuart Skinner with four bodies in front of him to make it 2-2 before Nemec’s first goal of the season on another screened netminder came just 1:25 later to mark the decisive tally in a 3-2 defeat for the Oilers.

"It's our fourth line against their top line and we turn the puck over, which they capitalize on," Knoblauch said. "That's something that just absolutely can't happen, especially with a 2-1 lead."

The Oilers are receiving contributions from some of their big guns like Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard, but players further down the lineup haven't been able to find the scoresheet at a regular rate that they'd feel is acceptable, says Henrique.

"The big guys are scoring. They score all the time," he said. "I think from our line down, the depth has to try and find some ugly goals; to be momentum boosters to try and find that next one."

"[In the third period] I thought our line had a few opportunities with pucks and rebounds at the net, but we just couldn't seem to find it."

Finding the dirty goals is a shared mentality amongst the entire Oilers group that they're focused on doing heading into the second of back-to-back games on Friday night on Long Island.

"Yeah, I think so," Kulak said. "Everyone knows we're going through a tough stretch right now, and things aren't easy, so we kind of talk amongst ourselves in the room and we've got to stick together. We can't start pointing fingers at anyone. None of us are happy. And that's kind of the easy thing to do when you get frustrated. But we got to stick together and we'll dig ourselves out.