WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers finish off their second game of a back-to-back in Toronto on Sunday. The game starts at 5 p.m MST and can be seen on Sportsnet or heard live on 630 CHED and the Oilers Radio Network.
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Khaira now has four goals and two assists in his last six games as he continues to earn more playing time, which included a bump up to Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Strome's line in Montreal.
"Playing the last few games, I've built confidence over time," the 23-year-old said. "I have a lot of confidence from my teammates. It's nice coming to the rink. There's always words of encouragement. Having them by your side, you go out there with a lot of confidence. The team played great today and it showed up on the scoreboard."
Speaking of confidence, the Oilers coaching staff has plenty in the blossoming forward.
"He worked extremely hard at training camp and he earned a spot," Todd McLellan said of Khaira. "He earned every minute he could get, and then when the season started I think he took a deep breath and it caught up to him. He needed to be reminded and now he's back to that grinding, work-ethic, protect-puck style. As a result, he's scoring and we have a ton of confidence in him."
Despite the 2-0 score for the Oilers through the opening 20 minutes, it was actually the hometown Habs who started the game strong. Brossoit had to be sharp between the pipes early as Montreal mounted quite a bit of offensive pressure during a Leon Draisaitl interference penalty. The Oilers weathered the storm, though, and took over the period from there.
Cammalleri started the scoring at the 7:46 mark, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' backhand saucer pass from the opposite wing deflected perfectly off Shea Weber and onto his stick. Cammalleri, who kept the puck in at the blueline seconds earlier, cut towards the net and muscled a shot through Price's pads for his first Oilers goal and fifth point in 10 games.
All the talk earlier in the day was about Brandon Davidson facing off against his old team, but it was fellow former Hab Cammalleri who took the spotlight in the first period. The veteran spent two and a half seasons with Montreal between 2009 and 2012, scoring 119 points in 170 regular season games plus 29 more in 26 playoff contests.
Just 34 seconds later, the Oilers appeared to have extended their lead to 2-0 when Jesse Puljujärvi sent a rocket wrist shot past Price and off the under side of the crossbar. The Finn was confident he had tallied his fifth of the season and celebrated with his teammates on the ice, but the officials reviewed the play and discovered the puck never crossed the goal line.
Khaira scored the actual 2-0 goal at the 11:37 mark of the period thanks to a heads-up play by Ryan Strome in the corner. Price played the puck behind his net and tried to shoot it up the side wall, but Strome batted it down with his stick right to Khaira, who was streaking behind the net. Khaira wrapped the puck around just inside the post, beating Price's paddle by a split-second.
The scoring spree continued just 1:11 into the middle frame as Khaira tallied his second of the night on another heads-up play. Kris Russell got the puck at the point and fired a shot off the back wall, which bounced perfectly to Khaira set up to Price's right. The winger corralled the puck off the boards and flicked it into the twine from a sharp angle for his fifth of the season.
Just 1:13 later, with former Oilers blueliner Jeff Petry in the penalty box for holding Draisaitl, Milan Lucic sent a laser beam wrist shot past Price on the glove side to extend the lead to 4-0 and chase the Montreal netminder from the game. Antti Niemi came on in relief for Price, who allowed four goals on 13 shots.
Montreal finally solved Brossoit and got on the board at the 13:44 mark of the middle frame as Alex Galchenyuk scored a power-play goal while Davidson was serving a minor for holding.
The Oilers had what they thought was a comfortable lead one week ago against the Calgary Flames but they ended up winning 7-5 after taking a 6-1 advantage into the final frame. They made sure that didn't happen again with two more goals in the third period to close out their victory in Montreal.
Klefbom capitalized with the team's second PPG of the night at 2:39 as his point shot bounced off multiple Montreal players to fool Niemi for his third of the season.
Just 30 seconds later, Auvitu took a pass from Connor McDavid and made it count for his first Oilers goal as well (joining Cammalleri) and fourth tally of his NHL career.
Philip Danault whacked home a loose puck on a delayed penalty to cut the Oilers lead to 6-2 late in the third, but it was too little too late for the home side Habs.
Brossoit backstopped the Oilers to his second win of the season and sixth of his career.
"I thought we played a really impressive game defensively," he said. "They kept everything to the outside and made my life really easy tonight."
It'll be another all-Canadian matchup on Sunday as the Oilers head to Toronto for a rematch with the Maple Leafs, who won the first leg of their season series 6-4 on Thursday, Nov. 30 at Rogers Place.
The Oilers have had a tough time stringing multiple victories together this season, but they'll look to make it happen against Auston Matthews and the Leafs,
"We did a lot of the little things we needed to do to win," McLellan said. "If we can bottle that up and repeat it tomorrow, then we've got something going. That's going to be our biggest test."
