The Edmonton Oilers put a halt to their three-game losing streak by defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in a game that went to overtime at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday (Oct. 21).
Jake Walman scored in sudden death for the Oilers, who also got goals from Isaac Howard and Connor McDavid. Ottawa forced overtime after battling back from a 2-0 deficit thanks to third period goals from Thomas Chabot and Dylan Cozens.
Related: Walman’s Overtime Winner Lifts Oilers to 3-2 Victory Over Senators
Edmonton netminder Stuart Skinner stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced, while goalie Linus Ullmark made 22 saves between the pipes for Ottawa.
The Oilers conclude their five-game Eastern Conference road trip with a record of 2-3-0. Edmonton is now 3-3-1 overall this season.
Instant Impact
After missing the first six games of 2025-26 with an undisclosed injury, Walman returned to Edmonton’s lineup on Tuesday and immediately made his presence felt at Canadian Tire Centre.
With Edmonton on the power play in overtime, the 29-year-old received a pass in the slot and absolutely wired the puck past Ullmark, ending the game at 2:24 of sudden death.
Walman finished the game with two shots on goal, four blocked shots and one hit in 18:50 of ice time, while providing great puck movement for Edmonton. He was everything that the Oilers have been missing over the first couple weeks of their schedule.
“It will be a little adjustment, probably a couple games before I feel like myself again, but the biggest thing is just the mental (aspect), getting back out there with the guys and I feel good to finally be back,” Walman said following the game.
Night of Firsts
In an interesting bit of trivia, Walman became the first defenceman in Edmonton’s NHL history to score an overtime goal in their season debut.
But that was far from the only first on Tuesday at Canadian Tire Centre, where Howard and McDavid were each able to breathe a sigh of relief after scoring on the Senators.
Howard’s tally was both the first goal and first point of his NHL career, and has to be a massive boost of confidence for the 21-year-old forward, who is averaging less than 10 minutes of ice time in his rookie campaign.
After shooting the puck past Ullmark, Howard paused briefly, almost as if he couldn’t believe that he’d just scored, before erupting into a spirited celebration, pumping his fist and breaking into a huge smile. It was clearly a huge weight lifted off the back of the 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner.
Meanwhile, McDavid’s goal was No. 362 of his NHL career, but the first of this season. The Oilers’ captain had gone the opening six games of Edmonton’s schedule without scoring, the longest season-opening goal drought of his storied career.
While the 11-year veteran isn’t about to let a little slump get to him, McDavid has been through a lot the last few weeks, with his contract saga, so his first goal of 2025-26 must also feel like a massive weight coming off his shoulders.
More Milestones
Amid all these firsts, a couple other milestone numbers were achieved by Oilers on Tuesday: Skinner recorded the 100th win of his NHL career, while Edmonton forward Adam Henrique played his 1,000th career game.
Every one of Skinner’s 100 victories have come as a member of the Oilers. He’s the sixth goalie to reach triple-digit wins in an Edmonton jersey.
Henrique, on the other hand, has played only a small percentage of his career in Edmonton: Tuesday’s game was just his 110th regular season game since being acquired by the Oilers via trade on March 6, 2024.
Block Party
Edmonton blocked 17 shots on Tuesday, nearly double the total of the host Senators, who got in the way of nine Oilers’ shots.
Leading the way for Edmonton with six blocks was defenceman Darnell Nurse, who now leads the entire NHL with 26 blocks in 2025-26. The veteran Nurse is averaging a whopping 10.64 blocks per 60 minutes and already has at least five blocks in three separate games.
As a team, the Oilers rank fifth in the NHL with 118 blocked shots. They’re now averaging 16.56 blocks per 60 minutes through their first seven contests, which, while a small sample size, is notable, given the recent history of this team: Over the last five seasons combined, Edmonton averaged barely more than 13 blocks per game, which ranked 30th in the NHL over that span. Only two teams finished with fewer than the Oilers’ total of 1,150 blocked shots in 2024-25.
The Oilers now return home and will play their first game at Rogers Place in 12 days when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night (Oct. 23).
