PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers vs. Senators

The Edmonton Oilers will finish back-to-back games on Sunday night before the holiday break with a visit from the Ottawa Senators to Rogers Place.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet West at 6:00 MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers vs. Senators

EDMONTON, AB – Carry on into the holidays.

The Edmonton Oilers fought back for a second straight game on Saturday to earn a 3-2 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks and will close out their pre-holiday schedule on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators.

The Oilers outshot the Sharks 42-22, registering 40 more shot attempts (81-41) while also doubling the visitors in high-danger chances (17-6) as per Natural Stat Trick, but a few golden opportunities missed by the Blue & Orange and a career-best 39 saves from rookie netminder Yaroslav Askarov had them pulling Calvin Pickard for the extra attacker in the final minute.

Mattias Ekholm scored with 18 seconds remaining to get the game to overtime, where Leon Draisaitl recorded the game-winner just 18 seconds into sudden death to give him 25 goals on the season along with a new franchise record with 18 career OT tallies.

Draisaitl passed Connor McDavid for the record, who posted three assists in the victory, which included the dish to Draisaitl in overtime to set up the game-winner.

McDavid recorded his 130th regular season point this calendar year in the first period and became the third player to reach that mark in 2024 (regular season only), joining Nathan MacKinnon (137) and Nikita Kucherov (132) as the only other players to achieve the feat this season. Only four other calendar years in NHL history have featured at least three players with 130-plus points (1991, 1989, 1983 and 1981)

Defenceman Cody Ceci, who played with McDavid for three seasons before being traded to San Jose in the summer, couldn't relay enough information to his netminder to stop No. 97 and No. 29 on Saturday, but was impressed with how his team's rookie netminder showed in his old home.

“I am sure he has seen enough of [McDavid and Draisaitl] on the highlight reels, but he did a great job tonight reading where they were going with passes and whatnot,” Ceci said post-game. “He just seemed to always get over to it.”

Despite their own efforts missing a few wide-open chances, the Oilers can be happy with how they possessed the puck and battled to beat a locked-in Askarov in the San Jose crease to improve to 9-2-0 in their last 11 games. Perry recorded an assist on Ekholm's tying goal with the net empty and is the seventh all-time scorer against them with Joe Sakic and Anze Kopitar on 28 goals.

"I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. We stuck with it and played with the puck a lot,” Corey Perry said. “Their goalie played extremely well. We found a way to get one at the end and finally solve him.”

Calvin Pickard was solid between the pipes with 20 saves on 22 shots, making a few key saves that included his breakaway stop on 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini with the Sharks leading 2-1 early in the third period. The 32-year-old has won four straight starts and is a steady presence for the Oilers in the crease every time he's called upon.

"Picks gives us a chance every time he's in there. He makes the big stops at all times," Draisaitl said. “Seemingly, he wins every game that he goes in. He's been nothing but amazing for us the last two years."

The Ottawa Senators are on a hot streak of their own, winning their sixth game in a row on Saturday for the first time since March 2-11, 2017 on defenceman Jake Sanderson's OT winner 15 seconds into sudden death vs. the Canucks.

Rookie goalie Leevi Merilainen made 21 saves for his first NHL win in his first start since being called up on Dec. 15 to back up for Linus Ullmark following an undisclosed injury to Anton Forsberg.

Ottawa won for the eighth time in its last nine games to help pull themselves back into a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ullmark is projected to start for the Senators and is on a personal five-game winning streak with a 0.99 goals-against average, a .966 save percentage and a shutout over that span.

The Swede has a career record of 3-3-1 against the Oilers and will duel Stuart Skinner, who has won four of his five career starts vs. the Senators and is sporting a 12-8-2 record this season with a 2.93 GAA and .893 SV%.