Draisaitl gets goal, assist, Oilers edge Lightning for 3rd win in row

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Edmonton Oilers in a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Draisaitl became the first player in the NHL to score 20 goals this season.

“We’ve got to be able to win games like this, 2-1, 3-1, games like that,” said Draisaitl, who has reached 20 goals in nine consecutive seasons. “It was certainly a good benchmark for us as to how we want to play these games and get them over the finish line.

“We have some good teams coming up. Those games are fun. We want to be one of those teams, we are one of those teams. It should be a good week for us.”

Connor McDavid scored, and Stuart Skinner made 21 saves for the Oilers (16-10-2), who have won three in a row and six of their past seven (6-1-0).

“Tonight, in that third period, I thought we played about as well as you can with the lead,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It was a good, solid game and that takes a lot of maturity, a lot of composure. A lot of the stuff that we saw last year, playing a solid 60-minute game.”

Jake Guentzel scored for a fourth straight game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for the Lightning (14-10-2), who had won three of their previous four.

“That was a bad hockey game, actually, probably by both teams,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “There was a lot of talent on the ice, and I don’t think either team kind of had it. It’s just made worse that we didn’t get points out of it. We pushed in the third period and had our looks. We did. And they just didn’t go in. But I think we held the Edmonton Oilers to 43 shot attempts, not shots, shot attempts. You think, OK, you’re kind of doing the right thing.

“It was one of those nights where, when you play 82 of these, you’ve got to find a way to sneak some points out of them when you just don’t have it. And for most nights we’ve had it, but tonight we didn’t. I don’t know if they had it either, that’s what just kind of makes it sting a bit because we were there, there were some points for the taking. We just couldn’t grasp it.”

Mattias Ekholm nearly scored for the Oilers at 7:25 of the first period. He picked up a loose puck that bounced off the left boards and sent a slap shot over the right shoulder of Vasilevskiy, but a video review determined Zach Hyman was offside on the play.

After getting stopped on a breakaway earlier in the period, McDavid gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 17:31, taking a pass at center ice and steering through both Conor Geekie and J.J. Moser and scoring past Vasilevskiy’s blocker.

Guentzel tied it 1-1 at 10:02 of the second period following a turnover by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in his own end. Guentzel took a pass in the slot from Nikita Kucherov from the right corner and sent a wrist shot under Skinner’s blocker.

Edmonton took a 2-1 lead on a breakaway at 11:58. Vasilevskiy stopped Draisaitl’s initial backhand only to swipe at the rebound and have it hit off the skate of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and through his legs for an own goal, which was credited to Draisaitl.

“Originally I thought maybe it was [Vasily Podkolzin] or maybe [Kasperi Kapanen],” said Draisaitl, who was about to bang his stick on the ice when he looked back and saw the puck go in. “Whatever. It was not pretty, but I’ll take it.”

Tampa Bay nearly tied it with nine seconds remaining in the third period on a netfront scramble, but the goal was immediately waved off for a high stick by Lightning forward Nick Paul, who batted the puck down before it trickled in off an Oilers defender. The call was upheld following video review.

“I think it’s a wasted game,” Guentzel said. “There were certainly points in it for us and that’s what [stinks] right now. I think we gave up way too many odd-mans to put it on (a bad bounce). I think it was another one (a breakaway) that it came off of. Probably unlucky how it turned out, but I think we had more in that game.”

NOTES: Draisaitl’s ninth straight 20-goal season tied Wayne Gretzky for the third-longest stretch in Oilers history, behind Jari Kurri and Mark Messier, who each had 10. Draisaitl was also the first player to reach 20 goals in 2021-22. Over the past 30 years, only four players have been first to the 20-goal mark in a season multiple times: Jaromir Jagr (four times, last 1999-00), Auston Matthews (2023-24 and 2020-21), Alex Ovechkin (2017-18 and 2013-14), and Steven Stamkos (three times, last 2012-13). … Guentzel pushed his point streak to four games (four goals, one assist).