GAME STORY: Oilers 3, Senators 2

OTTAWA, ON - The Oilers got their offence from the defence on Tuesday with all three of their goals coming from blueliners as they edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2.
Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Tyson Barrie each found the back of the net as Edmonton improved to 8-7-0 on the season with their fourth win in four games against Ottawa.

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FIRST BLOOD

For the second straight night, an unlucky bounced ended up in the Oilers net and the Senators were able to take the 1-0 lead. Last night it was Adam Larsson knocking the puck over Mike Smith on a stick-check attempt, and in this game it was a Nikita Zaitsev point shot that got redirected by Connor Brown in the slot and right through Mikko Koskinen's five-hole just 26 seconds into the game.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The Oilers increased their lead to 3-1 at 3:53 of the second period when Alex Chiasson made a perfect backhand sauce pass to Barrie in the high slot and the defenceman faked a shot, made a move to his right and beat goaltender Marcus Hogberg far side for his second goal of the season.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Koskinen had to use his full six-foot-seven frame to keep the puck out on a mad scramble in the Oilers crease in the latter stages of the middle frame. Derek Stepan had Ottawa's best opportunity on the frenzy, as he scooped up the loose puck and flicked a quick shot through the bodies sprawled in front, but the Oilers goalie got his trapper on the attempt to keep the score 3-1 at the time.

TURNING POINT

With their opening goal just 26 seconds after the opening puck-drop, the Senators secured the early momentum, but Nurse's fifth goal of the season at the 4:11 mark on a heavy one-timer through Hogberg's five-hole swung it right back in Edmonton's favour and the visitors went on to score three in a row to take full control.

TOP PERFORMER

Jujhar Khaira assisted on both of Edmonton's first two goals, played 12:19 and was a physical presence all game with four hits. Khaira now has four points in his last four games.

FACT CHECK

Nurse has five goals through Edmonton's first 15 games of the season, matching his total from the entire 2019-20 campaign that saw him play 71 games. According to Sportsnet Stats, Nurse is the first Oilers defenceman to score five times in the first 15 games since Sheldon Souray in 2008-09. His career high is 10 from the 2018-19 season that saw him play all 82 games.

NEXT UP

The Oilers are now three-quarters of the way through their four-game road trip and will wrap up the voyage on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. They'll be back on home ice Monday when the Winnipeg Jets visit Rogers Place.

PARTING WORDS

"I think that's one of the keys to getting the puck through is changing the angle," Bouchard said of his goal, which came on a perfectly placed wrist shot from the point. "Blockers are so good at this level so you really have to work at changing it up and making it tough on the forwards coming out at you."
"We've been doing a good job at getting in the play and supporting our forwards and getting some shots through from the point," Barrie said of the goals from the blueliners as Edmonton is tied with Montreal for first in the NHL in that category with 11. "We're scoring in all sorts of different ways right now."

"He made some real timely saves for us," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of Koskinen, who stopped 40 of 42 Ottawa shots. "They threw a lot of pucks at the net in the third period and he made a couple real key saves at the right time to preserve the two points for us."
"We're not a finished product by any stretch, but we're moving in the right direction," Tippett said of the Oilers winning five of their last six games to get above .500 for the first time this season.