DeBrincat has goal, two assists for Blackhawks in win against Oilers

EDMONTON -- Alex DeBrincat had a goal and two assists for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 40 saves, and Brandon Hagel, Dylan Strome and Kirby Dach each had a goal and assist for the Blackhawks (17-23-7), who ended a three-game losing streak.
"I think we came ready to play; we played simple right off the bat, got it in deep and went to work," DeBrincat said. "We draw a penalty early and scored on that, got the momentum and went from there. We had a good start, but the second period was a little slow, so we can still improve there."
Leon Draisaitl scored, and Mike Smith made 26 saves for the Oilers (23-18-3), who lost 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. Smith started both games of the back to back after missing the previous eight games with a thumb injury.
"I don't like the result, but on a personal level, it was way better tonight than last game," Smith said. "The start [Tuesday] everything seemed like it was going 1,000 miles an hour out there, but as the game wore on, I felt better and better, and in the third, I felt more comfortable. I felt like I finished last night and felt good right from the start.

"Saying that, you're still letting in too many goals, and obviously that's frustrating. You want to do anything you can to help, and the last two games wasn't good enough."
DeBrincat scored on the Blackhawks' first shot at 1:44 of the first period. He one-timed Patrick Kane's cross-ice feed from the left face-off circle to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Hagel scored 1:03 later on Chicago's second shot when he took a cross-ice pass from DeBrincat and scored from the right circle at 2:47 to make it 2-0.
"That was a very, very bad start. [Smith] held us in and to be only down two after one, I think we felt very fortunate," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. "But that being said, I liked our second period. I thought we did a pretty good job getting ourselves back into it and maybe could have tied the game in the second, but that's not how it went."

Draisaitl cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 6:03 of the second period on a rebound in front.
Edmonton outshot Chicago 20-6 in the second.
"I was so close to changing the lines," Blackhawks coach Derek King said. "But I decided to just leave it and I think it was a good decision and let these guys battle through that like we talked about earlier. And they did, they brought it back in the third.
"They played a great first period, they played a great third period and the second period was a little sloppy at times."

Strome scored on a power play at 1:08 of the third period on a redirection of DeBrincat's pass to make it 3-1.
Dach scored at 9:36 for the 4-1 final.
"We knew they were going to have a push, but we were up 2-1 and in a good spot heading into the third," Strome said. "Anytime you are leading on the road after two periods, you have to take the positives and try to play like the first period and try to forget the second period and move on. I thought we did a good job at limiting their chances in the third. It felt like we outchanced them in the third, at least."
NOTES: Fleury has won at least 15 games in 16 straight seasons. … Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith left the game at 18:52 of the first period after slamming into the end boards trying to break up a rush, and forward Zack Kassian left after being hit in the face with the puck in the second. Tippett said Keith was held out for precautionary reasons; each will be reevaluated Thursday. … Edmonton is 3-9-0 in its past 12 home games.