GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Senators 2

GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Senators 2

Bouchard, Draisaitl & McDavid each produce three points for the Oilers on Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory over the Senators in the Nation's Capital

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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.

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, where Draisaitl tagged on his 14th goal of the season that 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.

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 13-for-13.

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

Bouchard, Draisaitl & McDavid each have three points to beat Ottawa

FIRST PERIOD

End-to-end Evan.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard pulled off an incredible solo effort to get the Oilers on the board four minutes into the first period, toe-dragging Thomas Chabot as he came into the Ottawa zone before he roofed it far side on Linus Ullmark for an incredible goal that gave his side an early 1-0 advantage.

Vasily Podkolzin and Leon Draisaitl picked up the assists.

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.

Bouchard dangles Chabot to score an outstanding opening goal

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.

The Oilers captain banged home the second chance, while Podkolzin produced his second assist of the game for his fourth multi-point match in 157 career NHL games. The Russian winger is still searching for his first Oilers goal, but he’s been noticeable in a top-six role for most of this season next to Leon Draisaitl.

McDavid puts away the rebound off Podkolzin’s shot on goal

Late in the period, the Oilers would get a two-man advantage when a Josh Norris penalty for cross-checking 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, making it 3-1 before the first intermission. McDavid now has 57 multi-goal games and 308 career multi-point games over his career.

McDavid fires home his second on the two-man advantage

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.

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.

Draisaitl tucks in his league-leading 14th goal of the season

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).

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.