GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Coyotes 3

TEMPE, AZ – The Edmonton Oilers scored four goals in the third period to complete the comeback in a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes in front of a Blue & Orange heavy crowd at Mullett Arena on Monday afternoon.

The Coyotes took a 3-2 lead in the middle frame off Nick Bjugstad's second tally of the contest, leading to Head Coach Kris Knoblauch changing his forward combinations in the second intermission and Edmonton answering back over the final 20 minutes with four straight goals.

The defeat for Arizona extends their losing streak to 10 games, while the Oilers have now won two in a row for the first time since the All-Star Break.

"We came out ready to play in the third period," Knoblauch said. "We could tell we were playing a young, fragile team that's on a losing streak and feeling very tight, and I think with our group we just took advantage of it and I thought we had a level of urgency that was a little bit higher in the third period, and it paid off."

Evander Kane led the charge with his 20th and 21st goals of the campaign, while Zach Hyman deflected home the game-winning goal as part of a three-goal stretch of 2:03 for the Blue & Orange to earn the two points and send their home crowd at Monday's road game in Arizona away happy.

Leon Draisatl had a goal and two assists, Evan Bouchard had three assists, Mattias Ekholm added two helpers and Warren Foegele added an empty-netter, while netminder Stuart Skinner stopped 22 of 25 shots to claim his 25th victory this season.

The Oilers will be back on home ice on Wednesday when they begin a five-game homestand at Rogers Place against the Boston Bruins.

FIRST PERIOD

For being the home rink of the Desert Dogs, the large majority of howlin' on Monday was for the visiting Oilers, who packed Mullett Arena for the afternoon matchup to make it feel like a home game on the road for Edmonton's players and coaches.

"It was great," McLeod said. "It was actually super rowdy in there and a lot of fun. A lot of fans were in the hallways yelling, so it was a great experience. My first one, so it was really fun."

The partisan crowd of Blue & Orange were given an early opportunity to showcase their pack's strength when Leon Draisaitl lifted a power-play effort over the left shoulder of NHL debutant netminder Matt Villalta just 2:12 into the contest.

The Coyotes' goalie was making his first NHL start in a tough assignment against Leon Draisatil, Connor McDavid and Co. and was given one of the worst possible introductions to the League when the puck deflected out front after striking a stanchion, forcing him to dive back in front and Bjugstad to take a professional hooking penalty on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins that produced Draisaitl's 27th goal of the season.

Bjugstad would answer back only 2:03 later to pick up the equalizing goal against his former team when he came down the right side and put his effort off the mask of Skinner and into the top corner.

After playing 31 regular-season and playoff games with the Oilers and recording seven goals and two assists last season following his Trade Deadline acquisition that involved defenceman Michael Kesselring, Bjugstad re-signed with Arizona on a two-year deal ($2.1 million AAV) this offseason.

Edmonton would retake the lead when they scored the third goal in a 6:07 stretch to begin the contest before the intermission when Mattias Janmark was rewarded for going to the front of the net by getting a piece of Brett Kulak's point shot to put it past Villalta for the 2-1 lead.

The Oilers could've had a significant advantage at the first intermission if it weren't for them hitting three posts in the opening period – with two coming on one power-play shot from Nugent-Hopkins that struck both irons before exiting to the left of Arizona's crease. Warren Foegele forced a turnover in the final minute and struck the crossbar with his snapshot, keeping the OIlers ahead 2-1 after 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

Make no mistake – the Coyotes know how to score goals, which makes them a prime outfit to exploit some lapses in Edmonton's play in the middle frame.

Their young roster might have come into Monday's matchup losers of nine straight games, but they've had some solid offensive showings over that span on the strength of their lineup boasting names like Clayton Keller, Sean Durzi, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, Barrett Hayton, Lawson Crouse and – of course – Nick Bjugstad.

The Coyotes mirrored Edmonton's start in the first period when they equalized on an early power play with Janmark in the box for a tactical hooking penalty that prevented Matias Maccelli from tapping into a wide-open net. Keller worked a nice exchange with Durzi and Schmaltz just before the three-minute mark of the middle frame before he blasted the 2-2 tally and his 22nd goal this year past Skinner, who was taken out of position by the pretty passing play.

Bjugstad was back at it past the period's midway mark to haunt his former team, taking a two-line pass from Keller in Arizona's end before sniping far side and top shelf past Skinner for his second goal of the afternoon that gave the Coyotes the 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.

"The first two didn't really go our way," McLeod said. "I think we had a pretty good start to the game and then we kind of took our foot off the gas, but we came out in the third and played a simple brand."

THIRD PERIOD

With his team in need of a spark after a lacklustre second period, Kris Knoblauch and his coaching staff juggled the lines – going with some tried and true combinations and a few other fresh looks to try and spark his team for a comeback.

"Usually, you're thinking about what's worked in the past and who's playing well at that moment and it's good for the coach to be prepared; but also, it's not a good sign if the coach is too prepared and has a backup lineup," Knoblauch said.

"I don't want to get in the habit of changing things up, but I think the way we got outplayed in the second period, we were slow to pucks. They really carried the play in the second period, and we just needed a little something to change things up."

And what a response it was.

The trio of Evander Kane, Leon Draisailt and Ryan McLeod proved too much to handle for the Coyotes over the final 20 minutes, with Kane picking up his first of two goals in the period off a delayed penalty that was created by McLeod's terrific speed. With the Oilers having extra man, Kane had the puck in the left circle and picked the top corner blocker side on Villalta to make it 3-3 with 15:32 left in the third period.

"It's great. It's always so fun playing with those two," McLeod said. "They're so big and strong and they get you the puck in great areas, so just trying to use my speed and get open and we were lucky to get a couple."

It took only 33 seconds for Edmonton to take the lead, and for how good Kane's shot was on the equalizer, Zach Hyman's deft deflection on Mattias Ekholm's well-placed shot was just as remarkable. Bouchard and Ekholm worked the puck across the blueline before the Swede put the puck on net, where Hyman was perfectly positioned to get his twig to his defenceman's shot and place it short side past Villalta for his 33rd goal of the year.

Hyman was back on a line with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which was one of the League's best lines all season before Knoblauch shuffled his combinations to begin this road trip in St. Louis.

The deficit for Arizona became two just 1:37 later when McLeod fired a puck on goal from the right circle that was deflected home by Kane for his second of the game, extending Edmonton's lead to 5-3 before Warren Foegele added an empty-netter with 1:09 left.

"We were a little slow in the second period, spent a little bit too much time in our own end, and to win this hockey game we knew we had to come out and play in their end," Kane said. "I thought we did a great job of getting on top of them a little quicker and being a little bit more connected on our forecheck, and it led us to some scoring opportunities."

PARTING WORDS

Knoblauch on McLeod's performance:

"Ryan's played so well through the month of January being on the left side. Before, it was Foegele, but I think a lot of it is not only having the confidence to make plays, but also having the speed to break up plays, get in on the forecheck to recover the puck and he does a lot of those little things really well. It paid off tonight."

Knoblauch on the Oilers winning back-to-back games for the first time since the All-Star Break:

"Yeah, we talked about that how we didn't have back-to-back wins for about three weeks. One of those weeks was the All-Star Break, but good teams are able to put together long streaks, and good teams also don't put long losing streaks together. So obviously, getting back to back feels good and we just want to build on that."