The Edmonton Oilers lost in overtime to the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday (Oct. 30), falling by a score of 4-3 at Rogers Place.
Defenceman Darnell Nurse lit the lamp twice for Edmonton while Oilers forward Matthew Savoie potted his first career NHL regular season goal. Stuart Skinner made 30 saves between the pipes for the home team.
J.T. Miller scored the winner in overtime for the Rangers, who also got goals from Jonny Brodzinski, Taylor Raddysh and Braden Schneider. New York netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced.
Edmonton now has a record of 5-4-3 for 13 points. The Oilers are tied for third in the Pacific Division standings with the Seattle Kraken.
Oilers Still Lacking 60-Minute Effort
In seven of their previous eight games before Thursday, the Oilers had trailed by at least two goals at some point during the contest. Edmonton had even managed to rally from a two-goal deficit in three of its previous four games, going 2-1-1 over that span.
Thursday was the reverse of how things have been going lately for the Oilers. This time, Edmonton was the team with a two-goal lead, going in front by a score of 3-1 on Nurse’s second goal of the night at 10:24 of the second period. Unfortunately for the Oilers, this time around they also were the ones coughing up a two-goal lead, as Schneider and Raddysh scored at 8:18 and 12:04, respectively, of the third period to draw the Rangers even at 3-3.
On the verge of a well-earned win that could be used to build some much-needed momentum, the Oilers instead wound up going to overtime where they suffered a deserved loss that once again left fans wondering why this team can’t put together a 60-minute effort.
Oilers’ Power Play Fails to Capitalize
Edmonton’s power play has been very good recently, going 6-for-14 over its past five games before Thursday. That continued against the Rangers, as the Oilers struck again with the man advantage when Savoie scored on a goalmouth scramble at 8:48 of the second period to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. But when the moment was greatest on Thursday, Edmonton’s power play suffered an outage.
The Oilers had a glorious opportunity when Rangers centre Mika Zibanejad was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for high-sticking at 19:19 of the third period. Edmonton started overtime with 79 seconds of four-on-three, but despite having the likes of Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid on the ice, the Oilers could manage only one shot on goal in sudden death before Zibanejad’s penalty expired. Not long after, at 2:49 of overtime, Miller drove to the Edmonton net and went backhand-to-forehand to put the puck past Skinner.
“We had one great look, but that’s not enough in a minute (and) 20 (seconds),” Bouchard said of the failed power play.
Bouchard’s Struggles Continue
Mercifully for Bouchard, Thursday was Edmonton’s final time playing in October, because this has been a spectacularly dreadful month for the beleaguered blueliner.
Related: Has Oilers’ Bouchard Played Himself Out of a Spot on Team Canada?
Already with a number of stinkers to his credit this fall, Bouchard had another night to forget against the Rangers. The 26-year-old committed turnovers that led to New York’s first and third goals. Then, on the game-winning goal, he elected not to take Miller, giving the Rangers captain a clear path to Skinner. Bouchard finished the game with a plus/minus rating of minus-3 for the third time this season.
Through 12 games, Bouchard has a rating of minus-9, tied for third worst among all defencemen in the NHL. He hasn’t been helping as much offensively, either, totalling seven points, which is well below his output of 0.91 points per game over the last two seasons.
Nurse Nearly Gets Hat Trick
On a positive note, Nurse had a terrific all-around game, highlighted by the fourth two-goal game of his NHL career.
Nurse, who is now in his 12th season with the Oilers, nearly became the first Edmonton defenceman to record a hat trick since Marc-Andre Bergeron on Jan. 14, 2006. The veteran had two shots stopped by Shesterkin late in the third period, as he tried to restore Edmonton’s lead after the Rangers had tied things up. Had the Oilers been able to protect their lead and the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for an extra attacker, Nurse likely would have been on the ice, and one has to think his teammates would have been trying to set him up for his third goal.
The 30-year-old Nurse was also credited with four hits in the game. He’s the first Oilers defenceman to score multiple goals while recording at least four shots and at least four hits in the same game since the NHL started officially tracking hits in 2005-06.
Edmonton is back in action on Saturday (Nov. 1) when the Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Oilers have yet to lose in regulation this season at Rogers Place, where they are 3-0-2 so far.
