Rangers rally for 7th straight win in 6-round shootout against Oilers

EDMONTON -- Chris Kreider scored twice, and the New York Rangers rallied for their seventh straight win, 5-4 in a six-round shootout against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and assist for the Rangers (33-14-8), who trailed 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period. Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves.
"If you look at that first period, you might say that's a horrendous first period going down 4-1, but I thought we did some good things and the way we created some chances was good," Zibanejad said. "We had to make sure we trust our way of playing; just being patient, there is 40 minutes left at that point, and little by little you try to get back into the game, and that's what we did."
Connor McDavid had two assists to surpass 100 points, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and assist, and Zach Hyman had two assists for the Oilers (30-19-7). Jack Campbell made 34 saves.
Kaapo Kakko and
Alexis Lafreniere
scored in the extended shootout for New York. Nugent-Hopkins scored in the first round.
"[Campbell] played really well; it was disappointing," said McDavid, who is Edmonton's captain. "We had a 4-1 lead, but I didn't think it was a 4-1 game. I thought we did a lot of good things on the power play and capitalized on some chances, but it wasn't good enough."

Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead on the power play at 7:52 of the first period on a rebound in front after Hyman was stopped by Shesterkin. McDavid got an assist for his
100th point this season
.
Tyson Barrie made it 2-0 at 12:11 on a shot from the slot off a centering pass from Mattias Janmark, and Derek Ryan scored 19 seconds later at 12:30 from the right face-off circle to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead.
Kreider cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 13:36, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Zibanejad.
Leon Draisaitl made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 18:27, converting a pass from McDavid.
Kreider scored a short-handed goal at 6:26 of the second period to make it 4-2. He took a long bank pass off the boards from Adam Fox and scored when his centering pass bounced back to him off Barrie.
"We got some timely goals and special teams was big, outside of the first period, and we were able to bounce back," Fox said. "I thought [Shesterkin] made some big saves when we needed and we were able to battle back. He made a big save when it was 4-1 right in tight, and obviously, if they make it 5-1, it's a different game. But the short-handed goal was big."

Lafreniere cut it to 4-3 at 1:36 of the third period on a shot from the right circle off a centering pass from Kakko, and Zibanejad tied it 4-4 on a 5-on-3 advantage at 13:10.
The Rangers killed a 4-on-3 power play with 1:01 left in overtime after Zibanejad tripped McDavid.
"I thought we played a good first period, they had two power-play goals, we had great chances and I thought Campbell was outstanding in the first," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "It could have easily been a 4-4 hockey game after one. I like the way we played.
"We were down 4-1, [but] I thought the game was far from over. We still have 40 minutes. It's the NHL. It's not like the game was going to be over, and we battled hard and found a way."

Edmonton will try to bounce back Sunday at the Colorado Avalanche.
"We had a clear understanding that the team that came in was one of the hottest in the League and they have a lot of skill on their team, and we knew they weren't going to surrender," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We were a little bit soft on the coverage on the third goal and then they scored a 5-on-3. It was disappointing that we didn't find the second point tonight."
NOTES: It was the Rangers' first three-goal comeback win since 2019. They play again Saturday at the Calgary Flames. … New York has won seven straight twice, the first time it has done that in the same season … McDavid has six 100-plus point seasons, tying him with Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby among active players. It is the fifth time McDavid was first in a season to reach 100 points; Phil Esposito and Mario Lemieux did it six times, and Wayne Gretzky holds the record (nine).