Nugent-Hopkins scored the game-winning goal with 2:14 left in overtime as the Edmonton Oilers topped the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 on Saturday.
After Ben Scrivens made several big saves early in the extra session, Nikita Nikitin fired a shot from the left circle. Ray Emery knocked it down with his glove, but Nugent-Hopkins backhanded the rebound into the net to give the Oilers the win.
"Any time you get a chance to bury it, you have to capitalize and luckily we did tonight," said Nugent-Hopkins.
Nugent-Hopkins finished with two goals and an assist, Jordan Eberle scored and added a helper and Teddy Purcell and Matt Hendricks also lit the lamp for the Oilers, who have earned points in four straight games (2-0-2). Scrivens made 27 saves.
Claude Giroux scored twice, Jakub Voracek supplied three assists, while Michael Raffl and Ryan White also provided offense for the Flyers, who have lost four straight games and nine in a row on the road, which is the most since an 0-8-2 stretch during the 1991-92 season.
"They had some nice plays and when they had a chance to put it in, they did," said Giroux.
Emery made 29 stops in a surprise start after Steve Mason skated off the ice during pre-game warmups with an illness.
After a frantic six-goal first period, Eberle provided the lone goal of the second as he put the Oilers in front 4-3 at 1:11 by elevating a backhander over Emery to finish off an odd-man rush.
The final stanza started the same way as the first two periods, with a quick goal. Voracek sent a pass from below the goal line to Raffl, who tied the game at 4-4 with a wrister from the right circle 46 seconds into the frame.
Each goaltender made quality stops down the stretch as Scrivens denied Nick Cousins on a breakaway with six minutes to play and Emery stopped a Taylor Hall one-timer and covered up the loose puck in the crease with just over a minute to play.
The Oilers wasted no time getting on the board as Eberle gathered a puck behind the net and sent it off Flyers defenseman Mark Streit's skate in the crease, where Nugent-Hopkins backhanded it in just 51 seconds into the game.
Less than four minutes later, Giroux tied the game after taking Voracek's quick feed and snapping a low shot past Scrivens.
Giroux tallied again to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead, as he stickhandled the puck at the left circle, moved in on net and wristed the puck past a screened Scrivens with eight minutes to play in the first period.
Just over two minutes later, White jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone, embarked on a 2-on-1 with Zac Rinaldo and beat Scrivens off a give-and-go for a 3-1 game.
The high-scoring opening frame continued as Derek Roy emerged from behind the net and sent the puck to Purcell, who wristed a shot into the net at 16:15 and Hendricks tapped in a loose puck in front to tie the game at 3-3 with 30.8 seconds to go.
Notes: Eberle extended his point streak to seven games ... Hall tallied an assist in his return to the lineup after missing 23 of the last 24 games with a leg injury ... Oilers defenseman Andrew Ference played in his 900th NHL game ... The Flyers dropped all three games during their Western Canada road trip (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton) for the first time since Feb. 27-March 2, 1986 ... Flyers forward Matt Read returned to the lineup after missing two games for the birth of his daughter ... Philadelphia played its 24th game past regulation this season, tying a franchise record which was set in 1998-99.
No comments:
Post a Comment