GAME STORY: Oilers 6, Canadiens 2

EDMONTON, AB - Au revoir, and bonne soirée.
For the third-straight matchup between the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens, it's two points in favour of the Blue and Orange.
Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid had three-point nights, with Matt Benning notching his first goal of the season and an assist as the Oilers snapped their four-game losing skid with a 6-2 win over the Habs at Rogers Place.

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OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. MTL
POST-GAME RAW | Russell
POST-GAME RAW | Benning
POST-GAME RAW | Nurse
POST-GAME RAW | Draisaitl
POST-GAME RAW | Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan
THE OTHER SIDE | Canadiens Head Coach Claude Julien

WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers are in Calgary for the first Battle of Alberta of the season on Saturday. The game can be seen on Hockey Night in Canada and heard on 630 CHED, the Oilers Radio Network. Puck drop is 8:08 p.m. MST.
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Inside The Oilers Blog
"We only needed three, and that was the message we've been preaching over the last little bit here - the NHL is a game to three on most nights," Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan said. "It was great to get six, but we checked well enough and played better in a lot of different areas to only give up two."
Coming into tonight's game with only three goals from defencemen, the Oilers nipped twine three times from the blueline with goals from Benning, Darnell Nurse and Kris Russell.
"It was a great night for everyone on the back end to contribute," Nurse said post-game. "You don't want to leave it up to your forwards every night to put up all the goals, so it was good to get pucks to the net and get rewarded for it tonight."
Three assists for the Oilers captain extends his success on home ice to 10 points (3G, 7A) in eight games. Drake Caggiula scored his sixth goal of the season to break the deadlock in the second period, and goaltender Mikko Koskinen recorded his fourth win of the season with 27 saves on 29 shots in the victory.
A lucky bounce less than five minutes into the game was what the Oilers needed to jump ahead when Benning's point shot ricocheted favourably off the end boards and Niemi's foot for the early 1-0 lead.
"The last few games I've had some good looks, and probably the worst goes in," Benning joked. "It is what it is, and we just need to keep getting pucks on net."
Fortune would then level the score for the Canadiens 2:32 later when Noah Juulsen jumped out of the box and intercepted an Oilers pass in the neutral zone that deflected from the stick of Andrew Shaw to Max Domi, who walked in and rifled his 10th goal of the season over the left shoulder of Koskinen.
Draisaitl, who was tied with Domi coming into tonight's game for goals since October 17 with nine, would regret having two more to add to that tally after striking the post twice in a ten-minute span during the first period. But persistence paid off for the German, who matched Domi's tally by finishing off the dish from McDavid on the two-on-one for his second point of the night to make it 2-1.

Shaw answered for Montreal early into the second frame, taking the backhand feed from Jonathan Drouin behind the net and squeaking one through Koskinen from the slot to tie the game at two.
Then, in almost equal fashion 1:55 later, Caggiula controlled Niemi's skyward rebound, scuffed his ensuing shot towards goal but found the back of the net to restore the Oilers advantage.

Koskinen had been called upon multiple times through 40 minutes to make some crucial saves for the Oilers, but made his biggest of the night to keep the Oilers ahead when he denied Artturi Lehkonen on a shorthanded breakaway five minutes from the intermission.
Niemi would not be outdone by his Finnish counterpart in net, however, stretching out and stopping Draisaitl on a pass from McDavid that mirrored their earlier chance that ended in success.
The Oilers peppered Niemi for 18 shots in the middle frame, outshooting the visitors 29-18 through two periods.
Nugent-Hopkins found his way onto the scoresheet 5:36 into the third period, walking into the Canadiens zone and showing the patience needed to slot home his fourth goal and 18th point to double the Oilers lead to 4-2. Ryan Strome and Kris Russell would record the assists.
Russell released a wrist shot from the point for his first of the season and first goal in 42 games, putting the game to bed at 5-2 with just under six minutes remaining in the contest. Nurse then made it three from Oilers defencemen 1:56 from time when he took a cross-ice feed from McDavid and roofed it over a sliding Niemi.

The Oilers continue play in Calgary for the first Battle of Alberta of the season on Saturday.