Koskinen makes 29 saves, Oilers shut out Devils

EDMONTON --Mikko Koskinen made 29 saves, and Leon Draisaitl scored to extend his point streak to eight games for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Rogers Place on Friday.

Koskinen's shutout was his first of the season and fifth in the NHL.
"The one really great chance they had went off the crossbar, he didn't have to make an outstanding save. He was just in position and made the game look simple," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "That was a strong game by our goaltender. He was positionally sound and right in tune with the game and got rewarded with the shutout."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Oilers highlights]
Alex Chiasson had a goal and an assist, and Gaetan Haas and James Neal scored for Edmonton (11-5-2), which had lost its past two games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Joel Persson each had two assists.
"It was a good 60 (minutes) for us all the way through," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It started with Mikko making some big saves, especially early and that kind of gives you a jump start, and it started from our D up to the forwards. It was a good response after our last game (5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday), so it was definitely nice to finish up the homestand with a win."

Cory Schneider made 28 saves for New Jersey (4-7-4), which was playing the second game of a back-to-back (lost 5-2 to the Calgary Flames on Thursday).
"I thought it was more of a 50-50 game than the scoreboard said it was," Devils coach John Hynes said. "When they had opportunities, they were able to put the puck in the net. We had some real quality looks and opportunities, and the puck didn't get in the net."
Draisaitl scored on a breakaway after receiving a stretch pass from Nugent-Hopkins to make it 1-0 at 1:55 of the second period. Persson had the secondary assist on the play, his first point in the NHL.
Draisaitl has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) during his point streak.
"I thought we played pretty well at that point," Schneider said. "They got a good look on the Draisaitl breakaway. They bury theirs and we hit the crossbar on our breakaway (Taylor Hall), and that was the difference until then. Up to then, I thought we played pretty well structure-wise, keeping their top guys and not letting them be too threatening, and then obviously, those two goals quickly in the second made the change in the game."
Haas scored at 15:45 to put Edmonton ahead 2-0 when Matt Benning's point shot redirected off his skate past Schneider.
Neal extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:51 with a backhand on a rebound off a shot from Persson.

"It's a hard league and especially on the road, you have to find your game early," Hall said. "Any kind of let up and a couple of bad shifts and it ends up in the back of your net. I thought we had some good, sustained periods of time where we played well and probably maybe deserved a goal or two, but that can happen, especially on the road, especially against a team that are playing pretty dangerous right now, and we didn't seem to have an answer for that in the second period."
Chiasson scored his first of the season when he tipped in a shot from Nugent-Hopkins on the power play at 6:02 of the third period to make it 4-0.
"Personally, I thought I was around it the whole night," Chiasson said. "I felt like I was playing on the inside around the net, the puck was following me, and when I play that way, good things happen."

Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen was injured on a hit by Chiasson and left at 9:55 of the first period. Hynes did not have an update on his status after the game.
"I thought the D-core did a great job and we managed it really well," Hynes said. "Collectively, as a team with five D in a back-to-back against a rested team, I thought the five D that were there really stepped up and played well. I thought the team managed it well. I thought the team managed the puck well and we didn't have to defend for long, long periods of time."

They said it

"It didn't feel like a 3-0 game at the end of the second. We had a lot of quality chances and a lot of opportunities and we didn't cash in and they did. I thought we played a pretty solid game and we couldn't find a way to get the first one and get rolling." -- Devils captain Andy Greene
"It was great to see so many goal-scorers tonight. Chiasson got his first goal and that's a big boost for him. He's going to score so many more goals in the future." -- Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen

Need to know

New Jersey has been shut out three times this season. … Hall had a seven-game point streak end (one goal, eight assists). … Draisaitl is the fifth player in Oilers history to score at least 14 goals through the first 18 games of the season, joining Wayne Gretzky (1981-82, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88), Jari Kurri (1983-84, 1984-85), Glenn Anderson (1985-86) and Alexander Selivanov (1999-00). … Oilers forward Connor McDavid had an assist and has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.

What's next

Devils:At the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNP, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Oilers:At the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, PRIME, NHL.TV)