Oilers defeat Coyotes on Nugent-Hopkins OT goal

EDMONTON -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored with 40 seconds left in overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Nugent-Hopkins beat goalie Scott Wedgewood on a breakaway to give Edmonton (10-13-2) consecutive wins for the second time this season.

Zack Kassian and Matt Benning scored for the Oilers, who defeated the Boston Bruins 4-2 on Sunday and have won three of four following a three-game losing streak. Cam Talbot made 29 saves.
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Oilers highlights]
"It's nice for our confidence right now," Nugent-Hopkins said. "In each of our last two games, we came back from being down a goal. We are showing a lot more fight, a lot more resilience right now. It should go a long way for our team."
Christian Fischer and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Coyotes (6-17-4), who have lost two straight games after winning four of their previous five. Wedgewood made 24 saves.
"I think the guys deserved that win, they played well in front of me," Wedgewood said. "They have a high-powered offense, and we kept them to two goals and one in overtime. We did great defensively, and I think overall, we walk out of here with a win if we play that way moving forward."
Fischer scored at 6:22 of the first period to give Arizona a 1-0 lead. He lifted the rebound of a Max Domi shot over Talbot from the top of the crease.
Kassian tied the game 1-1 on a breakaway at 16:30. Oilers forward Mark Letestu intercepted a centering pass from Derek Stepan in the Edmonton zone and sent a backhand pass up to Kassian.

Ekman-Larsson gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal with 49 seconds left in the second period. He got a pass from Domi near the blue line in the middle of the zone and shot past Talbot's glove.
Benning scored at 14:25 of the third period to tie it 2-2 on a shot through traffic from the right point.
"We needed a desperate effort tonight," Talbot said. "We can't afford to keep giving up points, especially at home. We need this to be a tough building to play in. [Benning] got us a big goal at the end of the third, and anytime we go into 3-on-3, I like our chances. It's just a matter of giving our guys a chance to get there."
Arizona outshot Edmonton 4-1 in overtime, and Coyotes forwards Clayton Keller (1:02) and Christian Dvorak (3:32) each hit the crossbar.
"We had two breakaways and two posts and a missed shot [in overtime]," Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. "We had a lot of chances tonight and we deserved to win that game, and the Oilers capitalized on the amount of chances they had, but we had a lot of chances tonight."
Nugent-Hopkins set up his breakaway by tipping the puck past Ekman-Larsson at the Edmonton blue line with 45 seconds remaining.
"I guess you could call us lucky in overtime because we gave up four or five chances before we got our first," coach Todd McLellan said.

Goal of the game

Nugent-Hopkins' goal at 4:20 of overtime.

Save of the game

Wedgewood stopping Drake Caggiula with 34 seconds left in the third period.

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Highlight of the game

Kassian's goal at 16:30 of the first period.

They said it

"Their three goals are just breakdowns. I think for the most part, we probably out-chanced them and limited their top guys. But 3-on-3 is anybody's game and all it takes is one bad bounce or a missed shot wide." -- Coyotes forward Christian Fischer
"We're not out of it by any means. People had such high expectations of us, and so did we, and we didn't get the start we wanted to. Even tonight, it wasn't the prettiest, but we found a way to win. They don't ask how two points is two points. It's a win." -- Oilers forward Zack Kassian

Need to know

Ekman-Larsson is third in Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets franchise history in goals by a defenseman with 94, trailing Teppo Numminen (108) and Dave Ellett (95). … Kassian scored his first goal in 25 games this season. He had seven goals in 79 games last season.

What's next

Coyotes: At the Calgary Flames on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs (9 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SNW, TSN4, NHL.TV)