Oilers hold on to defeat Jets, win fifth in row under Woodcroft

WINNIPEG-- The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth straight game under coach Jay Woodcroft, 4-2 against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Saturday.

"I would say five wins for the Edmonton Oilers," Woodcroft said. "What I really, really enjoyed about tonight's game was the fact that [Winnipeg] got a little bit of momentum the last eight or nine minutes of the game but our team didn't flinch."
Connor McDavid scored and had two assists, and Mikko Koskinen made 22 saves for the Oilers (28-18-3).
"I thought we had five guys all over the ice, having layers, making it hard for them to come through us," McDavid said.
Kyle Connor and Adam Lowry scored in the third period, and Connor Hellebuyck made 36 saves for the Jets (22-19-8).
"I liked the way that we got down but we stayed with it," Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "We talked about going into the third, we had to get that first one to generate some momentum. Then we were able to get that second one."

Adam Lowry made it 3-1 at 10:45 on a shorthanded breakaway, and Connor got Winnipeg within 3-2 at 14:38 on the power play.
"It's nice to contribute," Adam Lowry said. "I wanted to get back that one we gave up in the first. … You're down by three, you want to obviously kill it, but if you can get one going the other way, it's huge. I thought we springboarded off of the start of the third and that helped. Huge power-play goal to give us a chance at the end."
Darnell Nurse scored shorthanded into an empty net at 19:57 for the 4-2 final.
"Everyone was calm," Woodcroft said. "We're saying the right things on the bench and we found a way to come out of tough building with two points, which is the most important thing."
Zach Hyman gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 12:17 of the first period, deflecting Tyson Barrie's point shot on the power play. Hyman has scored in three straight games and four of five since Woodcroft replaced Dave Tippett, who was fired Feb. 10.
"I really like how the team's playing," Koskinen said. "There's still a lot of room to improve and we try to get better every day. That's the key to be successful at the end of the year."

Kailer Yamamoto made it 2-0 at 7:46 of the second period by scoring on his rebound, and McDavid made it 3-0 at 10:50.
"[McDavid] had it going on tonight, and he has it going on most nights," Woodcroft said. "But in the end, it was a close game and some of the plays that our top players made were the difference in the game."
NOTES: McDavid leads the NHL with 71 points. He has scored 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in a six-game point streak. Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl had an assist and is second with 69 points. He has scored four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. ... The Oilers are 15-0-0 when scoring first. ... Jets defenseman Brendan Dillon played his 700th NHL game. He had two shots on goal, three hits and one blocked shot in 19:57 of ice time.