GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Senators 2

KANATA, ON – Capital 'W' in the Nation's Capital.

Evan Bouchard, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had three points for the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at Canadian Tire Centre, helping close out their team's three-game Eastern road trip with a victory in the second of back-to-back games.

"I thought it was a resilient effort. Not easy," McDavid said. "A lot of travel back to back and they were rested. I thought we were a little behind the eight ball, but we just found a way to get it done tonight. That's what it's all about and I thought it was a great sign from our group."

Draisaitl and Bouchard each had a goal and two assists, while Connor McDavid produced two goals and a helper – including a power-play goal on a five-on-three during the last minute of the opening period. Podkolzin added two assists on his team's first two first-period goals – one an amazing solo effort by Evan Bouchard – that helped give his side a 3-1 lead heading into the middle frame.

Draisaitl tagged on his 14th goal of the season 4:39 into the second period, which leaves him second in the NHL for goals behind only Alex Ovechkin (15).

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added his second goal of the campaign in the final frame to end a run of 11 games without scoring, and goaltender Stuart Skinner finished the night with 27 saves on 29 shots after allowing goals from Tim Stützle and Josh Norris late in the first and third periods.

"It was massive. Obviously if we didn't [win], it would have been a pretty ugly road trip – especially playing all the Canadian teams," Skinner said. "You obviously want to show up for those, and I think getting off a good start in the first period was a big help. Especially going into a back-to-back, just being able to keep that lead was key to winning the game."

Derek Ryan, Adam Henrique and Brett Kulak each added assists for the Oilers, with all three skaters pitching in on the penalty kill three times on Tuesday to push their team's perfect streak over their last five games to 12-for-12.

The Oilers improve to 10-8-2 as they return home to Rogers Place to host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday evening.

FIRST PERIOD

"Beautiful goal," Connor McDavid said, describing Bouchard's first-period effort.

"Bouch is a great player; so patient with it and never in a rush. You could see both those things on that goal – a beautiful move and a beautiful finish."

Defenceman Evan Bouchard pulled off an incredible solo effort to get the Oilers on the board four minutes into the first period, showing patience as he came into the Ottawa zone by toe-dragging Thomas Chabot before he roofed his shot far side on Linus Ullmark for an incredible goal.

"That's when he's at his best – when he's super patient," Stuart Skinner said. "Just being able to walk around him like he did was just super smooth, and then finishing on Ullmark, obviously a great goalie, so a lot of props to Bouch. He's been playing fantastic."

The 25-year-old tied Steve Smith for the fifth-most goals all-time by an Oilers defenceman (46) by scoring his fifth goal of the campaign, which leads Edmonton's blueline.

Last season, Bouchard assisted on all six goals the Oilers scored against the Senators, and he was well on his way Tuesday to stretching the streak to nine by either scoring or assisting Edmonton's first three goals.

The Oilers were 5-0 in games this season where they earned a fighting major, and it was Josh Brown who'd drop the gloves with Travis MacEwan midway through the frame in a scrap where both heavy hitters landed some blows before Brown needed to go to the dressing room for repairs.

Brown played 13:59 of ice time in his regular-season Oilers debut on Monday against Montreal, which came following his call-up from Bakersfield, where he was providing a veteran and physical presence with 46 penalty minutes in 12 games – including six fighting majors.

Tim Stützle shot one past Skinner to make it 1-1 with 4:20 left in the period, but it was Podkolzin who'd help get that goal back only 35 seconds later with a low shot from along the wall that rebounded right into the path of Connor McDavid off Ulmark's left pad.

"I thought we responded well," McDavid said. "We always talked about a shift after a goal. Obviously, you want to grab momentum right away, and we found a way to score, which is always a bonus. I thought it was a big time in the game and we were able to hold on to it."

The captain banged home his ninth goal, while Podkolzin produced his second assist of the game – earning praise post-game from McDavid for his hard work in the top six despite the Russian having yet to score with the Oilers.

"He was great. Honestly, the numbers aren't showing," he said. "I know he hasn't scored, and lots have been made of that, but he works so hard, keeps so many pucks alive, makes so many great little subtle plays that the media doesn't love to write about but are so important to being a good linemate. I thought he played great."

Podkolzin kept his place in the top six despite the Oilers doing some forward shuffling before Tuesday's game in Ottawa with only nine combined goals this season from Jeff Skinner, Zach Hyman, Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Vasily Podkolzin.

Despite not scoring yet, the Russian has proven himself to be a workhorse forward for the Oilers.

"We have a lot of faith in him," Knoblauch said. "He's been doing all the little things and right from day one, when he showed up at Training Camp and put in the time – usually the first guy on the ice and the last guy off the ice – he's working on his game and it's been paying off. He's done a really good job for us. Despite not scoring a goal, he's done tremendous."

The Oilers would get a two-man advantage late in the period when a Josh Norris penalty quickly became a five-on-three for the Oilers after Claude Giroux was called for a face-off violation off the ensuing draw. McDavid took advantage of the infraction and the extra space on the ice by ripping his ninth goal of the campaign blocker side on Ullmark from the top of the circles to make it 3-1 before the first intermission.

McDavid now has 57 multi-goal games and 308 career multi-point games over his career.

SECOND PERIOD

The hard work of Adam Henrique in the neutral zone won the puck for McDavid to allow the Oilers captain to attack again with Draisaitl and give the German forward his 14th goal on the season – second only in the NHL to the 15 of Washington's Alex Ovechkin.

After the Oilers had a two-on-one broken up, Henrique beat Ridley Greig in a puck battle along the boards and got it to McDavid, who sifted the puck to Draisaitl to slide his 14th goal of the campaign five-hole on Ullmark to give the Oilers control up 4-1 with 4:39 left in middle frame.

Stuart Skinner was solid between the pipes for Edmonton despite only needing to make five saves in the second period, but one of those was grade-A chances on Josh Norris as he tried to pull off a quick wrap-around that required the Oilers netminder to close the puck in on himself.

"I thought he was solid and made a lot of really good saves," McDavid said. "He made the timely saves, which I think is half the battle. When it comes to goaltending, it's just making the right save at the right time and I thought he did that all night."

Skinner was 3-1-1 over his last five starts coming into Tuesday night, having recently passed Curtis Joseph for the eighth-most wins by an Oilers goalie in franchise history with his 77th career victory.

THIRD PERIOD

Stuart Skinner shut the door on a Brady Tkachuk breakaway, closing the five-hole stop the Ottawa captain from scoring two minutes into the final frame as he tracked towards tying Dwayne Roloson for the seventh most wins in franchise history (78).

"I look back on some stuff, and I'm just trying to make progress every single day, every single game," he said. "I thought I was able to do that today and just understand that you've got to make the right decisions at the right time, and I think tonight was a good stepping stone in the right direction."

The netminder was solved late in the game by Josh Norris to make it 5-2, but that was after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tipped home a beautiful pass from Derek Ryan to give the Oilers a four-goal lead. The tally ended an 11-game goalless drought for No. 93 dating back to Oct. 25 vs. Pittsburgh.

Edmonton's penalty kill turned aside two more penalties to go along with one from the second period, extending their perfect stretch to 13-for-13 over their last five games.

Zach Hyman didn't play for the Oilers in the third period after taking a hit late in the previous frame from Artem Zub. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch didn't have an update on the winger after the game.