GAME RECAP: Jets 4, Oilers 3 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – Full marks for the team effort, but only a point to show for it.

The Edmonton Oilers dug deep to earn a point against the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-3 overtime defeat at Rogers Place, fighting through the absence of Leon Draisaitl and the loss of Connor McDavid late in the second period on Thursday to garner an important point in the Pacific Division standings.

"I think we played really well," Darnell Nurse said. "There were obviously challenges throughout the game, whether that was losing guys and a few PKs there at the end, but I think that our team battled hard and found a way to get a point."

Winger Jeff Skinner scored twice for his 12th and 13th goals of the season before Edmonton and Winnipeg were locked into a 2-2 tie in the final minute of the middle frame when McDavid appeared to be in some discomfort at the end of his shift and was later ruled out for the third period with a lower-body injury.

After Brandon Tanev put the Jets ahead under four minutes into the final stanza, Zach Hyman tied the game at 3-3 with his 25th goal of the campaign, and goaltender Stuart Skinner would have to be replaced by Calvin Pickard for the final five minutes of regulation and overtime because of concussion protocol.

The penalty kill went 4-for-4 after improving to 18-for-18 over their last six games by stopping the Jets with 2:30 remaining in the third period, but in overtime, it was an unfortunate finish to what was a great team effort.

Winger Kyle Connor scored the sudden-death winner on a wrist shot under the right arm of Pickard to earn the Western Conference-leading Jets the victory, putting an end to Edmonton's three-game winning streak despite earning themselves a hard-earned point on home ice.

McDavid had extended his point streak to 13 games (4G, 15A) prior to his lower-body injury, while defenceman Darnell Nurse picked up two assists. Head Coach didn't have any updates on McDavid after the game.

The Oilers will hope to hear good news on their captain's status before they host the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place on Saturday night.

FIRST PERIOD

Jeff Skinner shoots, Jeff Skinner scores to open things up – in emphatic style.

After a goalless opening power play from the Oilers, the winger picked up a bouncing puck in the neutral zone and crossed the Winnipeg blueline with Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid to his left before trying his luck with a hard wrist shot from between the circles that beat goaltender Connor Hellebuyck clean over the right shoulder for the 1-0 lead.

The goal was unassisted and marked Skinner's 12th goal of the campaign and first goal versus Winnipeg since Dec. 14, 2021 when he played for Buffalo, while giving him points in three of his last five games against the Jets.

"It's nice to contribute," Jeff Skinner said. "I think a couple chances that kind of went in for me. I think you just kind of work for your chances. I think sometimes, I've had some better chances that haven't gone in, but it's always nice to contribute especially in a tight game like that."

The Oilers already had more goals than their 6-0 defeat to the Jets five months ago during their forgetful home opener at Rogers Place, but Winnipeg would get on the board 13:39 into the opening period after forward Cole Perfetti finished off a rebound that came off a low shot from defenceman Dylan Samberg.

With no Leon Draisaitl in the lineup as a precaution for a knee-on-knee hit he took in the second period of Tuesday's 7-1 win over Utah Hockey Club, the Oilers were going to need to continue to find offence from other places like on Skinner's opening goal 5:28 into the period.

Shots were light from both sides after the opening 20 minutes, with the Jets holding a slender 5-4 lead in that department.

SECOND PERIOD

"Not this time, Coach's Challenge."

That's likely what Zach Hyman was saying to himself after Winnipeg's challenge on Jeff Skinner's second goal of the game was upheld when the Jets thought Hyman's contact with Hellebuyck in the crease meant he couldn't make a play on the slow roller through his five-hole at 5:30 of the middle frame.

Connor McDavid made a great rush up ice to create the goal by finding No. 53 open in the slot from behind the net, scraping a shot on target that slowly slid along the ice and went between the legs of the netminder with Hyman inside the crease and getting pushed into the net by defenceman Colin Miller.

Hyman did catch a piece of Hellebuyck around the crease before he was pushed, and that probably looked like enough for the Jets coaching staff to challenge the play for goaltender interference against one of the League's most overturned players in Hyman.

But the officials ruled on the side of the Oilers this time, claiming that it was outside the crease or that Hellebuyck had time to reset and make a save before Hyman was guided into the Winnipeg goalie by his own teammate. We'll never know, but it was a goal.

"I think I went into the paint and then there was some contact made before I was pushed, but I think they ruled that it was outside of the crease or it's a gray area," Hyman said. "It was my contact with the skate inside the blue paint or outside the blue paint, but I thought they made the right call. Whether it's me or Perrs or whoever goes to the net, guys are around the net all the time, and if you nitpick every little play, then there's not gonna be many goals."

Skinner's second goal of the game was confirmed along with a 2-1 lead for the Oilers and a two-minute power play for delay of game assessed to the Jets for a failed challenge. Skinner's multi-goal game was his first with the Blue & Orange, and an assist from Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 13 games (4G, 15A) and put him on 90 points for the season.

But just after that Oilers power play had expired, a blocked shot on goal from Darnell Nurse by forward Morgan Barron sent the Jets up ice on a quick counter-attack, where Nino Neiderreiter – who had just exited the box seconds earlier – got the puck on the left side before finding a fast-attacking Josh Morrissey at the back post for a tap-in past goaltender Stuart Skinner that tied the game at 2-2 just 11 seconds after getting back to five-on-five.

Defenceman Mattias Ekholm was assessed a roughing penalty with 16 seconds left in the period that made for a nervy finish before the intermission, but their concern was soon on their captain Connor McDavid, who appeared to be in discomfort at the end of his final shift before heading to the dressing room.

Early in the third period, Edmonton would have to navigate the rest of a tight game without their leader after McDavid was ruled out with a lower-body injury.

"I think this team's been through adversity before, and we feel like we've got a lot of good players and some good depth," Jeff Skinner said. "Whatever [McDavid's] status is, we'll work through it together."

THIRD PERIOD

Though the loss of McDavid was a big one to add to the absence of Draisaitl on Thursday, there were still 20 other players on the Oilers roster left to pick up the slack, and they needed all of them – even backup goaltender Calvin Pickard – to earn themselves at least a point.

"Just the message: go out there and play hard and keep it simple," Zach Hyman said. "I think it's right. You're missing two guys who make those kind of special plays, and I think if they're not in the lineup, simplify your game. You can play a pretty simple and direct game, get to the net and just keep things easy, and I think we're a team that's capable of doing that."

"Anytime someone goes out, there's a lot of moving parts because there's an odd number of guys on the bench, so I thought guys did a great job filling in different spots," Jeff Skinner said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get the result. But I thought there was a lot of good things there."

Without McDavid on the bench and the Oilers short five-on-four to begin the period, they soon found themselves needing to kill off a two-man disadvantage when Darnell Nurse took a roughing penalty 44 seconds into the frame – which they did successfully to make it 17-for-17 over their last six games.

However, it was just over a minute later when the Jets were pressing in the Oilers zone and were able to take the lead when Edmonton wasn't able to clear the blue paint when a deflected point shot led to Brandon Tanev hitting the post on a wide-open net before finding the rebound to make it 3-2 Winnipeg.

But the Oilers dug deep to tie the game over half a period later, with Nurse's point shot getting spilled in front of the crease by Hellebuyck before getting put away by Hyman for his 25th goal of the season that made it 3-3 with 5:34 remaining in regulation.

"I like how our group stuck with it," Hyman said. "We didn't go away after they went up 3-2. Kind of an easy game to go away from, but we battled back, got one and got a point out of it."

The goal gave Hyman his third goal in two games since coming back from missing last week's 3-1 win over the Rangers with an undisclosed injury.

Earlier on the same play, a collision in the crease involving Stuart Skinner and Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi ultimately resulted in the netminder exiting the game with less than five minutes remaining due to concussion protocol, leaving Calvin Pickard to come into the game to see out the remaining time in regulation and overtime.

"Both goalies played really well tonight," Knoblauch said. "Both teams, the shots were lower because it was a pretty highly-contested game where there wasn't much room to generate much offence, but the totals weren't very high and the quality of shots I think were pretty good. I thought our goalies played well. They did a good job."

Edmonton's penalty kill helped garner a valuable and hard-earned point for their team by killing off their fourth minor penalty of the night when Corey Perry was sent to the box for a hooking penalty on Kyle Connor with 2:30 left to play. Connor Brown and Adam Henrique had a shorthanded odd-man rush with the potential to win the game in the final minute, but Hellebuyck made the save before the buzzer sounded to send us to overtime.

"I thought the effort was tremendous," Coach Knoblauch said. "We're down a goal and third period against the best defensive team and we were able to score to tie it up and not only be able to tie it up, but were able to kill a five-on-three and another power play late in the game. In the third period, I thought there was great efforts by so many of our guys. There was no quit and we're gonna need more of that."

Consider that a hard-earned point for the Oilers, who didn't have Leon Draisaitl tonight or Connor McDavid for the final 20 minutes plus overtime, leading to Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkjins beginning the three-on-three frame.

"It goes kind of either way, but a lot of guys stepped up," Jeff Skinner said. "Obviously Picks, that's a tough situation to walk into and he was huge on the PK. I thought the PK was great all night. A lot of guys stepped up. It was nice to see and nice to be a part of."

OVERTIME

No shame in that defeat.

Zach Hyman had a one-timer set up by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stopped by the chest protector of Hellebuyck early in overtime before the Jets went the other way to win the game, giving Edmonton's Canadian rival 100 points on the season as the second NHL team after the Capitals this year to reach the mark.

Following a pair of drop passes from Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele inside the Oilers blueline, winger Kyle Connor found the gap under the right arm of Pickard with his wrist shot from inside the right circle after Nurse came into some contact with his goalie in the crease, sealing the 4-3 victory for the Jets with 3:47 to go in sudden death.

"I think opening shift, Hyman and Nuggy do a pretty good job of stealing the puck away make creating a turnover, and he has a pretty good quality shot there," Knoblauch said. "Following that shift, we have possession in the offensive zone and then they get it and get a shot that Picks just got tied up with our defenceman. Obviously, some mix-ups there."

That ended Edmonton's win streak at three games, but it represented a point in the Pacific Division standings and their continued push for first place with 13 games left in the regular season.