GAME RECAP: Devils 6, Oilers 5 (OT)

NEWARK, NJ - It was one of the year's best games on the final day of the calendar.
Jack Hughes scored the game-winner in overtime for the New Jersey Devils, squeaking the decisive action through netminder Mike Smith 2:55 into extra time to condemn the Edmonton Oilers to a 6-5 defeat in a New Year's Eve thriller at the Prudential Center.
Kailer Yamamoto had a three-point night with two goals and an assist, while Connor McDavid posted a pair of goals to take sole possession of the NHL's scoring lead from teammate Leon Draisaitl, who had a single helper in the loss.
Ryan McLeod recorded the first multi-point game of his career with two assists.

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FIRST BLOOD

With Jesse Puljujarvi in the penalty box early for holding, the Devils took an early lead on the powerplay to mark the 18th time in the last 22 games that Edmonton has conceded the opening goal.
Defenceman Dougie Hamilton served it up to Hughes, who let fly a wicked one-timer that beat Mike Smith clean for his first of two goals on the day only 1:38 into the game after the Oilers penalty kill overloaded the opposite side of the defensive zone and left the 2019 first-overall pick wide open.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Advantage, brother Ryan.
Oilers centre Ryan McLeod got the upper hand on his brother Michael in their first game against one another in the NHL with his first of two assists in the contest when he put a perfect pass through traffic onto the tape of McDavid, who calmly slotted his 18th goal of the year over Mackenzie Blackwood to briefly level the score at 1-1 before the three-minute mark.

ROCKIN' AT THE ROCK

Hope you weren't late tuning into this one.
The Oilers and Devils traded four goals over a six-minute span to begin Friday's matinee, with three first-overall picks (Jack Hughes, Connor McDavid, and Nico Hischier) scoring the first three goals of the game for only the fourth time in NHL history.
After McDavid leveled things up, it took only 17 seconds for Hischier to bank one in off the skate of Smith and restore New Jersey's one-goal lead. Just under three minutes later, Yamamoto - not a first-overall pick, but a first-rounder nonetheless - delivered a deft deflection at the six-minute mark off a point shot from Slater Koekkoek.
Dawson Mercer finished off the scoring by going under the arm of Smith at 11:10 of an eventful first period that saw both teams record 13 shots on goal.

SAVE OF THE GAME

They say your netminder has to be your best penalty-killer.
Smith flashed the leather brilliantly on Hischier in the second period with Darnell Nurse in the box for a retaliatory roughing call after sending Damon Severson over the boards for delivering a hard check on Zach Hyman at the Oilers blueline. Hischier had a clean look from the slot, but the 39-year-old came up with a big glove save that helped secure the Oilers a big kill for one of their core leaders.

AFTER REVIEW...

It was a long video review, only for the play to be deemed unreviewable.
Yamamoto drew a hooking penalty with the score tied near the midway point of the third period, but the Spokane, Wash. product was up off the ice in time to accept Draisaitl's backdoor feed and give the Oilers their first lead of the contest after tying it up on four separate occasions.
The play led to a coach's challenge from the Devils bench for a "Missed Game Stoppage Event in the Offensive Zone Leading to a Goal" when New Jersey had potentially taken possession of the puck, but the officials awarded Edmonton the goal after deeming the play unreviewable.

TOP PERFORMER

The Oilers had plenty of candidates for best performance of the afternoon, so we'll acknowledge all of them.
McDavid was feeling it all night, driving play and recording a pair of goals to take over the NHL's scoring lead from teammate Draisaitl with 52 points (19G, 33A) in 31 games.
In a clash between the McLeod brothers Michael and Ryan, it was the Oilers centre getting the best of his older sibling with two assists and the first multi-point game of his career.
Yamamoto got on the scoresheet with two goals and an assist, and defenceman Duncan Keith had arguably his best game in an Oilers uniform with two assists that included a 75-foot stretch pass on McDavid's breakaway goal in the second period.

PARTING WORDS

McDavid on the Oilers on the consolation of battling back from four deficits to take the lead before ultimately losing in overtime:
"We'll take it. Obviously fighting back is never the way we want to be playing, but it's better to fight back than to kind of roll over. I like the way we responded, but we need to find a way to make that a two-point game."
"That's something we've talked about is trying to hang onto games, hold onto games, and keep ourselves in it. I thought we did a good job of that tonight."

Yamamoto on an unfortunate result but a highly-entertaining game:
"It was a good game by both teams. I thought we played a lot better than we did in St. Louis, we've got to tip our hat to that, but that's a really good team over there. You have to give them a lot of credit. They know how to score goals too."
Yamamoto on getting right back to work and in another matinee game on New Year's Day:
"Definitely. As I said, I thought we played a lot better than we did in St. Louis, so we're going to take a lot of the positives and keep working tomorrow."
Yamamoto on his thought during what was a lengthy video review on his third-period goal:
"That was a weird one. We weren't even sure on our bench if that was a challengeable play, but I don't know. It was definitely an emotional rollercoaster, but luckily it counted."

Head Coach Dave Tippett on his assessment of an exciting game in New Jersey:
"Rollercoaster game. I thought we started well, and then we take a penalty and boom, it's in our net. We get one right back, give one back again, and then between a so-called challenge that wasn't a challenge, I think four of the six goals against us were at some point deflected and bounced in the right direction."
"It's one of those games where a lot of bounces were going the other way. You just have to stick with it. We had some guys play very well tonight and some guys put in really good efforts. We've got to stay with that and go into tomorrow the same way."
Tippett on the positive play of both Yamamoto and McLeod:
"Yamo was really good and around it all night. We need that secondary scoring and he came up with a couple of big goals for us. McLeod, we were talking about it before the game that he's had some good stints. Tonight coming in, it was an emotional game for him going against his brother, and he jumped out and played very well making a couple of really good plays."