Oilers defeat Canucks in shootout

VANCOUVER -- The Edmonton Oilers won consecutive games for the first time in more than a month, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in the shootout at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Alex Chiasson scored the only goal of the shootout in the fifth round to win it.
Jujhar Khaira and Connor McDavid scored, and Mikko Koskinen made 20 saves for the Oilers (23-21-3), who had not won two games in a row since Dec. 9-11. Edmonton had alternated wins and losses for seven straight games after losing the previous six.
"The character we showed tonight, we took a step in the right direction," Khaira said.
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Canucks highlights]
Markus Granlund had a goal and an assist, Brandon Sutter scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves for the Canucks (21-21-6), who have one win in their past five games.
"It was a grinding game, kind of that playoff feel against teams that are fighting for it, and that's what they are going to be like down the stretch," Sutter said. "I thought we played really well."
After each goalie made the save on a breakaway and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse got a skate on an empty-net chance for Sutter in overtime, the goalies denied nine straight shots in the shootout before Chiasson finally beat Markstrom over the glove.
"The overtime was exciting," McDavid said. "The shootout didn't have a lot of skill in it, but I'm glad Mikko was able to stop it all and [Chiasson] was able to find one."

Chiasson said he learned from watching how Markstrom moved against his teammates on their attempts.
"I thought if I come with a little speed and go just above (his glove)," he said. "It worked out."
Khaira scored shorthanded at 7:35 of the first period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. He spun away from a check and into the slot for a wrist shot over Markstrom's blocker with McDavid in the box for high-sticking Sutter.
"It just kind of presented itself, and I need to be more of a shooter," Khaira said of his first goal in 13 games. "So I'm just trying to focus on that right now. It's nice when it pays off."
Sutter tied it 1-1 before the penalty expired, ending an 0-for-12 slump for the Canucks power play with a glove-side wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle at 8:53.

McDavid put Edmonton ahead 2-1 on the power play with 57 seconds left in the first, pulling the puck in quickly to shoot between the legs of defenseman Chris Tanev from the top of the left circle on the rush.
"There's probably one guy that can do that," Sutter said of McDavid, who has six goals and three assists during a six-game point streak and 37 points (16 goals, 21 assists) in his past 22 games.
Granlund scored unassisted at 9:52 of the second, quickly shooting over Koskinen's glove from the bottom of the left hash marks to tie it 2-2.
Ben Hutton scored on a power play with 1:06 left in the second, but the goal was overturned after Edmonton coach Ken Hitchcock successfully challenged that Jake Virtanen was offside on the play.
"Huge break on that offside," McDavid said. "At least we were able to take advantage of it."
Koskinen got across on a backdoor pass to glove Bo Horvat's high one-timer five minutes into the third period, made the save on Virtanen on a partial breakway with 19 seconds left, stopped Horvat on a breakaway in overtime, and was 5-for-5 in the shootout.
"Overtime was really exciting," Hitchcock said. "I thought we'd score for sure twice, and then next thing I know, I couldn't believe they didn't score."

They said it

"It's going to be like this for the rest of the year. You're going to be in a battle, and there's going to be a lot of emotional times. If you're a fan of hockey, you're going to love this. If you're just looking for wins, you're going to go through a roller-coaster ride. But if you're looking for great hockey with people pouring everything in it, you're going to be looking at this the next 40 games." -- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock
"It's fun hockey to watch and a little more nerve wracking to play, but I thought we did a lot of good things." -- Canucks center Brandon Sutter

Need to know

Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto returned after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. He started on the second line and had no shots on goal and two hits in 11:36. … Center Colby Cave was minus-1 in 9:35 in his Oilers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. … The Canucks traded defenseman Michael Del Zotto, a healthy scratch 16 of the past 17 games, to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Luke Schenn and a seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft during the game. Schenn will be assigned to Utica in the American Hockey League.

#

What's next

Oilers: Host the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360, SN1, CITY, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, MSG-B, NHL.TV)