Four key takeaways in Edmonton Oilers’ epic 6-5 OT win vs NYR

On a night in which Kevin Lowe was immortalized, the Edmonton Oilers erased a three-goal deficit to top the New York Rangers 6-5 in overtime.

Edmonton Oilers‘ legend Kevin Lowe was honored before Friday night’s game, raising his No. 4 uniform banner to the rafters. On Thursday, Oilers head coach Dave Tippett described Lowe as a key piece that every team needs to win.

“If I was the coach back then, he would be a glue guy on our team. He did all the dirty jobs,” Tippett said of Kevin Lowe. “There are players that get the high-octane offence and all that, there are players that had to kill penalties, there are players that had to just be good defenders. Kevin, to me, was the ultimate team player on that group. He was the epitome of a winner as a player and he’s an unbelievable person. What he’s done to help this franchise is immeasurable.”

Key Stats

Shots on goal:

• EDM: 39
• NYR: 25

Power Play:

• EDM: 2/2
• NYR: 1/2

Faceoff:

• EDM: 58.5%
• NYR: 41.5%

Here are four takeaways from the Oilers’ 6-5 overtime win to the Rangers on Friday night.

1. Chaos in front of the net leads to Rangers first goal

The Rangers scored the game’s first goal less than two minutes into the opening period. On the play, netminder Mikko Koskinen went to retrieve a puck circling the end boards. After retreating to his crease, Oilers’ defenseman Duncan Keith jarred Koskinen’s stick out of his goalie’s hands, sending it about 10 feet left of the goal.

From there, Koskinen looked vulnerable between the pipes as the Rangers kept the puck in the attacking zone. Nils Lundkvist’s initial shot from the blue line was blocked, but the puck went right to Filip Chytil in the slot, who fired it past the Oilers netminder.

The Oilers would respond late in the first period, with Zach Hyman tallying his seventh goal of the season on the second effort in front of Rangers’ netminder Georgiev. Of note, defenseman Tyson Barrie recorded his 400th career point on his primary assist of Hyman’s goal.

2. Three goals in 4:04 for the Rangers to open the second period.

The Oilers would have likely preferred a do-over to start the second period. The Rangers were relentless in their forecheck, not allowing Edmonton to clear the defensive zone, leading to Kevin Rooney‘s goal at the 2:52 mark of the middle frame.

The goal had a landslide effect as the Rangers proceeded to score a total of three goals in a 4:04 span. Less than two minutes after Rooney’s goal, Chris Kreider stayed red-hot, skating around Duncan Keith and firing a shot past Koskinen to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

On the game’s first powerplay, Mika Zibanejad used his skate to redirect a pass from Ryan Strome that found the back of the net to give the Rangers a three-goal lead.

3. Powerplay leads comeback effort

One of the items I noted to monitor in this contest was how the Oilers’ dominant powerplay would fare against a Rangers squad that was terrific on the penalty kill thus far. After killing off the Rangers’ second powerplay of the game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins drew a hooking penalty at the 12:53 mark of the middle frame.

Initially, it appeared that New York would kill off the penalty. But Nugent-Hopkins sent a beautiful stretch pass to a streaking Jesse Puljujärvi, who fired an absolute bomb of a shot past the Rangers’ netminder. With Pulijujarvi’s tally, the Oilers have scored a powerplay game in all 10 games this season.

Tyson Barrie would tally a second powerplay goal for the Oilers 1:00 in the final period before Pulijujarvi tied the game at four goals apiece moments later.