Garland scores in fourth straight game, Coyotes defeat Oilers

EDMONTON -- Conor Garland scored two goals for the Arizona Coyotes in a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

The rookie forward has scored in four straight games (five goals) and has eight in 17 NHL games.
"That was a good, grind-out win," Garland said. "It got tight late and they have some dangerous players that can strike at any time, so to keep them in check was pretty good."
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Oilers highlights]
Jordan Oesterle had a goal and an assist, Alex Galchenyuk had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for Arizona (20-21-3), which has won three straight.
Connor McDavid and Kris Russell scored for Edmonton (21-21-3), which is 3-9-0 in its past 12 games after being 8-1-1 in its previous 10. Cam Talbot made 26 saves.
"They won more puck races and loose puck battles than we did," Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They controlled parts of the game that we couldn't get a handle on. They did a good job of not allowing us to pull the puck off the boards in the offensive zone. We didn't have a lot of Grade-A chances, they kept us to the outside and defended their zone hard."

Garland scored on the power play at 1:54 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie. He was first to a rebound off the end glass out in front and had the puck bounce in off his skate.
"[Galchenyuk] won the draw and I tried to box out [Ryan] Nugent-Hopkins in front," Garland said. "[Clayton Keller] got all of it and it just hit the glass hard and it bounced right to me, so it was a lucky little bouncer."

McDavid scored on a breakaway at 6:46 of the first period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. He took a flip pass from Ty Rattie at center ice and skated past Arizona center Nick Cousins and defenseman Jakob Chychrun to go in alone on Kuemper.
"Offensively, I thought we generated more chances than we have in the past," McDavid said. "They just worked hard and stayed above everyone with tight checking."
Oesterle tied it 1-1 at 1:16 of the second period on a shot from the point.

Hitchcock challenged to see whether Arizona was offside but the goal stood after a video review.
Edmonton was issued a delay-of-game penalty and Garland scored on the power play at 3:08 to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. Oesterle's shot from the point hit Garland in the forehead and bounced into the net.
"We put it all together what we've been working on the last two weeks now," Oesterle said. "We played a good game in Vancouver [4-3 road win in overtime Thursday] and we were able to come through and put it through and win it in regulation, which felt good. Seeing Garland score two was nice."
Russell tied it 2-2 at 17:00. He collected the puck at the right face-off circle, stepped around forward Mario Kempe and slid the puck into the net.
"I thought everybody contributed tonight, there was no passengers," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "After we scored those two goals we could tell we got a little more confidence. We rolled the four lines and everybody contributed tonight."

They said it

"I don't know what it is, it's always exciting to play against a former team to try and prove something. It's always nice to score here when we play against them." -- Coyotes defenseman Jordan Oesterle, who has four points (three goals, one assist) in five games against the Oilers
"It seems to be the story of the last few games, but at this point there are no more excuses. We have to be better. We can't allow those bounces to beat us every night. We just have to play better." -- Oilers goalie Cam Talbot

Need to know

Garland has all 10 of his points (eight goals, two assists) in his past 10 games after not scoring a point in his first seven. He is the sixth rookie in Coyotes/Jets history to score in at least four consecutive games and the first since Teemu Selanne set the record, scoring in nine straight from March 14-April 1, 1993 … Forward Jordan Weal won nine of 13 face-offs (69 percent) and played 14:51 in his Coyotes debut. He was acquired Friday from the Philadelphia Flyers in a trade for defenseman Jacob Graves and a sixth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. … Galchenyuk has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games. … McDavid has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 10 games. McDavid, who turns 22 on Sunday, has 323 NHL points. Only five players in NHL history have scored more points prior to their 22nd birthday: Wayne Gretzky (640), Dale Hawerchuk (423), Sidney Crosby (397), Mario Lemieux (348) and Jimmy Carson (325).

What's next

Coyotes: At the Calgary Flames on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Monday (9 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, MSG-B, NHL.TV)