GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Flyers 3 (SO)

EDMONTON, AB – Flying high with our first win of the season.

After shaking off a challenging opening 20 minutes at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers responded with ferocity over the final two periods and overtime, coming back to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Tuesday night to claim their first victory of the 2024-25 regular season.

"Through these games, there are opportunities to respond and I think we did that tonight," Adam Henrique said. "We did a good job responding and just found a way to claw back and capitalize on a great late goal and a get huge goal in overtime. It's a big win for us."

The Oilers bounced back from a two-goal deficit in the first period despite another failed coach's challenge and a waved-off goal for goaltender interference, allowing Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov to score the first two goals of his NHL career on the power play to give Philadelphia an early 2-0 advantage.

But the Blue & Orange's fightback began in the middle frame, receiving goals from Adam Henrique and Connor Brown to trail 3-2 through two periods before Evan Bouchard sniped one top shelf on goaltender Samuel Ersson with 3:42 remaining in regulation to force overtime with the match tied at three.

In sudden death, Connor McDavid was stopped by the left pad of Ersson on a wide-open breakaway before the captain found Leon Draisaitl streaking in through the slot to fire home the game-winning goal and claim Edmonton their first victory of the campaign.

"We're obviously scratching for points here early on, so any point we can get is big," Draisaitl said. "And it was nice to come back and win that game. It's always nice to get the first one out of the way, and hopefully, we'll create some momentum, create some confidence in our group and just go from there."

The Oilers now head out on the road for their first road trip of the season starting Thursday at Bridgestone Arena against the Nashville Predators.

FIRST PERIOD

This was proving to be a challenge.

After Matvei Michkov appeared to push the pad of Stuart Skinner at the near post on an early power play to claim his first NHL goal, leading to a failed coach's challenge from the Oilers and another man advantage for the Flyers to double their lead through the young Russian phenom, the lines were blurred even further for the Blue & Orange about what constitutes goaltender interference later in the period.

The Oilers were charged for an early power play for having too many men on the ice, giving the Flyers an early look with the man advantage where Skinner appeared to be in control of the puck before Michkov jammed at it at the left post and pushed it over the line, leading to a review and the referees giving the goal.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch followed up the decision with a challenge for goaltender interference, claiming Skinner had his pad pushed by Michkov to allow the puck to cross the goal line. Despite a lengthy review, the official upheld their original decision to the disappointment of the Oilers bench and the Rogers Place faithful, putting the Flyers back on the power play where MIchkov picked up his second career NHL tally.

Morgan Frost found Michkov low in the right circle for a one-timer that snuck through the chest protector of Skinner to make it 2-0 with 10:39 left in the opening period, but Edmonton's frustrations would increase minutes later when the lines for goaltender interference were blurred even further with their fourth disallowed goal in their opening four games of the regular season.

Evan Bouchard has been trying to find his shot this campaign – especially on the power play where the Oilers have been uncharacteristically quiet with only one PPG on six opportunities – and the blueliner unleashed a Bouch Bomb™️ that beat the screen provided by Corey Perry in front to seemingly pull one back for the Oilers before the first intermission.

But the officials once again had other ideas, waving it off immediately for goaltender interference after Perry came in contact with Ersson in the crease to prevent the Flyers netminder from getting his glove out in what was a familiar story to his grey-area no-goal call this past Sunday against the Flames.

With the risk of a double-minor for another failed challenge being too great, Coach Knoblauch had to let it go, leaving the Oilers down 2-0 at the end of a frustrating opening. 20 minutes in Oil Country.

"I didn't ask for much [explanation]," Knoblauch said. "They made their decision and we'll move on. I know there'll be some communication."

SECOND PERIOD

With that challenging opening period out of the way, it was time for the Blue & Orange to begin battling back.

The Oilers attacked the Philadelphia crease with more urgency in the middle frame, beginning with Adam Henrique's low centring pass from the left side on the rush less than two-and-a-half minutes in that was pushed carelessly into the danger area by Ersson, but Darnell Nurse couldn't make the most of his chance by putting it into the visiting netminder's chest protector.

But Edmonton's linked trio of Janmark, Henrique and Brown were buzzing on the third line and would get the Oilers on the board 6:26 into the period off another low passing attempt from the left – this time from Mattias Janmark – that produced a rebound that Henrique chopped over the left shoulder of Ersson to make it 2-1 for the Flyers.

"Brownie just needed some Rico in his life, I guess," Henrique said with a smile. "But you know what? We do a good job feeding off each other and kind of have that chemistry. We still talk quite a bit after each shift or each play about what we're thinking or what we're seeing. Sometimes, it changes from game to game, but he sees the ice so well, and I trust his feedback. Same the other way, too."

Henrique notched his first goal of the season off a primary assist from Janmark, who is now only four points shy of hitting the 200 for his career, while Kulak added the secondary helper to give himself, Henrique and Janmark their first points of the year.

"Just playing hard, trying to play with pace and getting to play our game," Henrique said of the second-period fightback. "At times, it maybe got away from us a little bit, but I thought we did a good job responding at times. The second period was high tempo and high pace with penalty trouble, but I think overall, it was a pretty good period."

The Oilers had the Flyers on their heels, making Ersson come up with a huge stop against Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on Edmonton's second power play of the period before Mattias Ekholm rang the right post from the slot off a zone entry with over seven minutes left before the intermission.

Edmonton had their persistence pay off on another energetic shift from the third line, but this time, it was Jeff Skinner who was on the ice with Henrique and Connor Brown when the winger set up Brown in the left circle for a one-timer that snuck inside Ersson's left post to tie the game at 2-2.

"I love playing with Rico," Brown said. "I think we see the game similarly. There are some tips that we think could've gone our way in the first couple of games, so it's nice to have some bounces go our way. I think this team's kind of been dying for our line to build us some momentum, so it was nice to be able to contribute and get a win."

Skinner's assist put him up to a three-game point streak, with the winger temporarily leading the Oilers in points with three (1G, 2A) through four games.

Soon after, Zach Hyman was caught in between the net and a Bouchard slap shot that struck No. 18 in the midsection, forcing the winger right down the tunnel to the Oilers dressing room where he'd remain for the rest of the period before returning for the final 20 minutes. Corey Perry then took his place for a shift on the top line and struck another post for the Oilers – one of three iron strikes for the Blue & Orange and five in total over the first two periods on Tuesday.

The Oilers couldn't carry the momentum into the second intermission, however, after penalties were a problem through 40 minutes – including seven minor infractions and a two-man advantage for the Flyers late in the frame that saw a tough-luck bounce from Bobby Brink along the left halfboards sneak by Skinner off the stick of his own defenceman in Ekholm.

"I think there was a lot of adversity that we self-inflicted," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Obviously, the penalties were not ideal. The amount of time we were penalty-killing made it hard, especially trying to generate some offence. But in the long run, it looks good for us that we were able to fight through all that and still come out with a victory tonight. But I just thought tonight, we just made it harder on ourselves than it had to be."

Despite trailing 3-2 after two periods, the Oilers could be a lot happier entering the final frame with their effort during the middle stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

The embers from Edmonton's strong response in the middle frame fuelled the fire to their comeback efforts.

Flyers forward Owen Tippett almost doubled the visitor's lead on a terrific inside-out move in the neutral zone to get around Brett Kulak on a solo rush up ice, beating the Oilers defenceman before putting his ensuing shot off the far post before Skinner fell on it to freeze the play.

After Skinner was run over behind the net by Sean Couturier, the Oilers weren't going to let it slide like it did on Sunday night against Calgary after Troy Stecher stood up for his goalie by dropping the gloves with the Flyers captain.

"He's a tough kid," Brown said. "I mean, incredibly hard-working and it's obviously [Couturier] had a few inches on him there, and he stuck in there. He landed some good ones, and also, I think he's played really well, earning more and more ice time. So it's nice to see 'Tony' get rewarded there."

It wouldn't be the only fight of the night, with Corey Perry squaring up with Joel Farabee soon after off a neutral-zone faceoff and landing a couple of late punches to earn the decision and fire up the crowd at Rogers Place even further.

"It's the emotional side of the game," Brown added. "Hockey's such an emotional game, so when you see teammates standing in there and going shot for shot with guys, the willingness and the depth that guys are willing to go to get an edge and to win hockey games [goes up]. It was a huge momentum builder for us in the third."

The comeback was officially on, and the determination from the Oilers paid off when they equalized with 3:42 remaining on an exceptional link-up between Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to find Bouchard alone in the left circle.

Draisaitl one-touched a pass along the wall to McDavid in the circle, who delivered a pass across the slot to Bouchard for a wicked release to the top corner that tied the game at three, unleashing the first confirmed "Boooouuuuuuch!" of the campaign from the Rogers Place crowd.

"Our best players really came up clutch," Knoblauch said. "The game-tying goal, Leon makes a play on the wall. McDavid makes the pass and Bouch scores. We needed those guys to make key plays at key moments, and they definitely did tonight."

After coming up with the late equalizer, there was only one thing left to do in overtime.

OVERTIME

McDavid helped fend off a partial breakaway for defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen that Skinner parried into the corner before the captain took advantage of the fallen blueliner and took off on one of the biggest uncontested breakaways of his career.

The captain saw no one in his vicinity and tried wrapping the game-winner around Ersson at the left post, but his shot met the side of the net.

Luckily for McDavid, the Oilers had numbers in the offensive zone with two Flyers still tracking back through the neutral zone, leaving the captain time to find the incoming Draisaitl in the slot to fire a snap shot over Ersson's right pad and claim the Blue & Orange their first victory of the '24-25 campaign.

"It was nice backtrack and pass by 97 and a good save by Stewie," Drasisaitl said. "I was fortunate to put that in."