Draisaitl scores four points, Oilers top Flames to end skid at seven

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl had two goals and two assists when the Edmonton Oilers won for the first time in eight games, 5-3 against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 4-3 lead at 14:29 of the third period, getting around defenseman Chris Tanev, cutting to the net and lifting a shot over Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom. Draisaitl scored into an empty net at 19:59 with Markstrom on the bench for an extra attacker.
Evan Bouchard scored two goals, and Mikko Koskinen made 44 saves for Edmonton (19-16-2), which ended an 0-5-2 slide. Connor McDavid had two assists.
"Obviously it feels great; losing is awful, it [stinks], it's not fun and it feels like there is always a cloud around you when you are losing," Draisaitl said. "And obviously, we're not where we want to be yet, but this is the first step and we have to start it at some point, [Koskinen] was amazing and it was a total team effort."

Noah Hanifin had a goal and two assists, and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and assist for Calgary (18-12-6), which has lost five of six. Markstrom made 26 saves.
"Obviously we're not happy, that's not what we came here to do, we came here for the win and didn't get it," Tkachuk said. "We did some good things, but ultimately, not enough good things. It was good to get one on the power play and they got two quick ones in the second and they had all the momentum, but we got one before the third and had a great penalty kill to start the third period.
"We should have gained some momentum, I thought we did and had some chances. We had some chances when it was 2-0 and we just have to capitalize and extend our lead and not keep a team like that in it, and we did, and they found a way to get some and they came out with the win."
Tkachuk scored on a rebound at 8:29 of the first period to give the Flames a 1-0 lead. Milan Lucic scored on the power play at 19:19 to make it 2-0, tipping in a point shot from Hanifin.
"It's very disappointing, we did a lot of things right, we created a lot of chances and in the third period, we spent the majority of the time in the O-zone and only gave up six shots in the third period," Lucic said. "It's disappointing, especially with the effort that we gave and how well we played. It's one of those things, they get life on the power play and they get themselves back in it and we deserved better than the result that we got."

Bouchard scored on the power play at 5:35 of the second period on a slap shot from the point to make it 2-1. He tied it 2-2 on the power play at 9:41, on a wrist shot from the point through traffic in front of Markstrom.
"I think a big part of putting it through is making sure it gets past the first guy," Bouchard said. "Luckily for me Jesse [Puljujarvi] was doing a great job at net-front, he was doing the dirty work in front and that's how goals come."
Brendan Perlini made it 3-2 at 18:18 with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
Hanifin scored at 19:16 on a shot from the blue line to tie it 3-3.
"We did what we wanted, you just have to finish opportunities," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "Those big guys [Draisaitl and McDavid], if you make one little mistake and they're going to come, and knowing full well with penalties, you just can't take them, they're at 30-some percent [on the power play] and they score one in three, is the way it works."

Koskinen made a sliding save at 9:17 of the third period to keep the game tied, coming across to stop Dillon Dube's one-timer on a cross-crease pass from Sean Monahan.
"I think it is my top save in the NHL," Koskinen said. "When you think about the situation and where we are, we really needed the win and we got it so we have to be happy for that."
Draisaitl moved into a tie for the NHL scoring lead with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin with 58 points (28 goals, 30 assists) when he scored on his own rebound off the end boards with one second left for the 5-3 final after missing the empty net from center ice.
"The guys worked hard and I'm happy for them," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "You can tell there is a relief, but there is a happiness. When you lose, people don't realize the toll it takes on you when you lose. When you lose, it's hurting everybody, so it's good to see them feel good about it tonight, and hopefully, it's a night we can use to start building ourselves back up again."