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DETROIT, MI – Eins, zwei, Drai.

On a night when Leon Draisaitl celebrated his 29th birthday, the Oilers were able to claim their second consecutive victory after their German superstar recorded not one, not two, but three points on Sunday – including the decisive OT winner just 18 seconds into sudden death – in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

“All around, a great night and a great win for us,” Draisaitl said post-game. “It’s always nice to come back in a game like that and start the road trip off right. We’ll get right back to work tomorrow.”

Draisaitl scored the first of two goals on Sunday off defenceman Olli Matta’s skate in the second period before setting up Evan Bouchard midway through the third period for a blast through traffic and former Oilers goalie Cam Talbot that made it 2-2 with 9:13 remaining in regulation.

In overtime, Bouchard’s D partner Mattias Ekholm found the burger-flipper of Draisaitl at the back post with a perfect pass that No. 29 chipped past Talbot only 18 seconds into extra time, capping off his birthday performance with two goals and an assist in a 3-2 victory that improves Edmonton’s overall record to 4-4-1 through nine games.

Bouchard had a goal and assist, while Connor McDavid contributed two helpers to reach double-digit points for the campaign with three goals and seven assists in nine games. Goaltender Calvin Pickard was instrumental to the Blue & Orange claiming the win after making 24 saves, including a couple of high-quality chances during a 12-save first period where the Red Wings controlled the majority of the play.

“You often win when your best players perform, and our guys stepped up and made some key plays,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said.

The Oilers wrap up back-to-back games at Nationwide Arena on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets before returning to Nashville to face the Predators later this week on Thursday.

FIRST PERIOD

A first shot and first goal for the Red Wings only 3:28 into Sunday’s clash would set the tone for a one-way opening 20 minutes in the Motor City where Detroit hemmed Edmonton in their own zone a handful of times and out-chanced the Oilers 17-6 in the first frame.

The Red Wings pressed before the five-minute mark with their second line of J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp and Patrick Kane, forcing Brett Kulak into a turnover below the goal line where Copp picked up the loose puck and pushed it to Kane, who had it off his tape in milliseconds and into the awaiting arms of Compher to snipe the opening goal short side and top shelf on Calvin Pickard.

Detroit was dominating possession in the first half of the period, leading 10-1 in shots when Calvin Pickard made a crucial reaction stop on Alex DeBrincat by dropping to the butterfly to turn aside a low redirection from the two-time 40-goal scorer that easily could’ve made it 2-0 and an even bigger challenge for the Oilers.

Pickard’s sharpness in the first period with 12 saves helped contribute to a shift-by-shift build-up from the Blue & Orange from there on out, showing the next shift when his save on DeBrincat led to Viktor Arvidsson sneaking a shot through Cam Talbot’s left arm on the rush, but not the inside of the post.

“He gave us an opportunity to win in the first period,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said of Pickard’s play. “We had been out-played quite badly, giving up 13 shots, but I know their shot attempts were 28, and if you give up 28 shot attempts in 20 minutes, all at five-on-five, you are not doing much. We were sitting back and he made some key saves.”

Before the intermission, Corey Perry got revenge on Joe Veleno for an earlier hit in the corner that saw Derek Ryan get driven into the boards from behind, landing a few hard uppercuts and right jabs on Veleno to score a decision that the bench appreciated despite trailing 1-0 through 20 minutes.

“I thought Corey Perry had a great fight with five minutes left in the first there. It kind of changed the narrative of the game,” Pickard said. “And from that point forward, we were really good.

“We got off to a bit of a slow start. They pressed pretty hard in the first, but it was good to keep it at one-nothing. And then, after that, we took over and played really well in the second and third. It just felt like we were going to get that winner.”

SECOND PERIOD

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Leon.

On what was Leon Draisaitl’s 29th birthday, the German celebrated the occasion with a good-luck bounce off the skate of Olli Maatta for his fifth goal of the season at 11:14 of the second period, watching his backhand deflect off the defenceman’s skate and in past Talbot to extend his point streak to six games (4G, 3A) – the 20th time he’s pushed a point streak to at least six games in his career.

“He was unreal,” Pickard said of Draisaitl. “I don’t know where to start with him. He was all over pucks, finding guys, shooting the puck and got rewarded for it. He deserved it.”

McDavid and Bouchard would get the assists as the captain picked up a helper after having his seven-game point streak end in Edmonton’s 4-0 shutout of Pittsburgh on Friday.

The Oilers were following up good shifts after good shifts and were creating their bounces on their way to recording 16 shots in the middle frame, but conceded the lead on a clever tip-in from Andrew Copp off the shot from Jeff Petry that came only 42 seconds after Draisaitl tied it.

Along with Copp, Patrick Kane had a multi-point night going with another assist.

Later in the period, DeBrincat nearly gave the Red Wings a two-goal lead when he rang a shot from the left circle off the right post behind Pickard.

The Oilers then took the puck up ice and had a great chance for Zach Hyman to break his goalless drought this season, but the winger couldn’t find a loose puck that sat untouched in the blue paint following a hard point shot from Evan Bouchard.

Pickard remained on his game for the Oilers and bailed out his teammate Perry before the intermission with another big save after the 39-year-old put a wayward back pass right onto the tape of DeBrincat for a one-on-one chance.

Overall, it was a strong bounce-back period for the Oilers with 16 shots, now leading 21-20 through 40 minutes but trailing by a goal.

“We decided to roll our sleeves up and get working and move our feet, and that gives us an opportunity to get back in the game,” Knoblauch said. “And we did a lot better job doing that and working to create plays. When you’re moving your feet, checking tightly, they don’t have as much time. They end up giving the puck back and we can counter-attack. We didn’t do any of that in the first period, but in the second and third I thought it was a good effort.”

THIRD PERIOD

The Blue & Orange push-back in the middle frame continued into the final frame, resulting in plenty of zone time for the Oilers and the Red Wings being forced into taking minute-to-minute-and-a-half long shifts where the Oilers hemmed in their opponents for long stretches.

Draisaitl had a cross-seam one-timer delivered by McDavid denied up high by Talbot as the Oilers locked the Red Wings into their own end for close to a minute-and-a-half, even getting a chance for McDavid to come on the ice and attack the tired Detroit defenders while their tanks were empty.

Another sequence of 1:23 in Detroit’s zone later in the period almost produced a tying goal, with McDavid managing to find Draisaitl with a terrific spin-pass on a three-on-two rush that the German one-timed just wide over six minutes into the final frame.

“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves after the first, but I just had that feeling that we were going to score and tie it up,” Pickard said. “Then, anything can happen at that point. But a lot of belief. We know how to win games, and we just have to keep doing it.”

Edmonton’s second equalizer arrived with 9:13 on the clock after Draisaitl turned up the wall in the offensive zone and offloaded a pass to Bouchard, who unleashed a patented Bouch Bomb™️ to the short side that Talbot had zero chance at seeing because of Hyman’s perfectly-placed screen.

The Oilers received a power play with 1:51 to go after Andrew Copp was charged for tipping up Mattias Janmark near the benches, setting the Blue & Orange up with a man advantage to win the game. Despite being unable to convert on the power play both late in regulation and on the nine extra seconds with the PP in overtime, they’d get the opportunity to win it early in extra time.

OVERTIME

The brief carry-over to the power play had expired when Mattias Ekholm rounded a Detroit D-man in the offensive zone and faked a slap shot before throwing a dime of a delivery to the back post for the bigger flipper of Draisaitl to finish off with a composed flick from his backhand.

“I’ve very rarely gotten a better pass or an easier tap-in than that one,” Draisaitl said. “That was all-world. He’s just an amazing player.”

“That was an excellent play,” Knoblauch added. “The fake slap shot and then the sauce pass to the back door. It was also Leon on his backhand. That’s not an easy tip. A lot of guys miss that just because it’s your backhand and you’re so tight, so a lot of credit to Leon too, because that’s not easy.”

Despite pressure from behind, Draisaitl cleverly chipped the puck over the line past a sprawling Talbot for his second goal of the game and the decisive winner, giving the Oilers their second straight victory and second in overtime this season.

Draisaitl now has 15 career OT goals – just one behind Connor McDavid for the franchise record – while he now has 241 career multi-point games for the fifth most in franchise history after moving past Glenn Anderson.

He also equalled Anderson for the fifth most three-point games in franchise history with 92.