GAME RECAP: Maple Leafs 4, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers were denied a fantastic third-period comeback on Saturday night, having Leon Draisaitl's equalizer with 2:04 left in regulation overturned for offside before they came up just short following a crazy finish at Rogers Place in a 4-3 defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Blue & Orange trailed 3-0 at the first intermission and mounted a heroic push over the final two periods, receiving goals from Zach Hyman and Corey Perry in the final frame, but Leon Draisaitl's tying goal with the net empty was nullified when it was challenged for offside after defenceman John Klingberg crossed the blueline too early.

"At the end of the day, it's offside. That's the rule and we obviously have to live with that," Draisaitl said. "Sometimes, it's unfortunate that it's centimetres."

Maple Leafs netminder Joseph Woll saved the best of his 45 saves for last on Saturday, sprawling out to take away Corey Perry's final chance as time expired on Edmonton's second straight defeat to close out their season-long six-game homestand.

Toronto capitalized on a few errors from Edmonton in the opening period to turn them into goals from William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Wainwright, AB product Bobby McMann before Mitch Marner's tally just 18 seconds into the third period wound up serving as the decisive goal after the Oilers fought back.

"Just those little details in the game that matter and come back to haunt you," Perry said.

Defenceman Evan Bouchard scored in the first period, added an assist, and struck the post while the Oilers battled to tie the game at six-on-five following their overturned goal. Brett Kulak finished with two helpers, while Leon Draisaitl, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded assists in the defeat.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 24 of 28 shots in the loss to fall to 19-12-4 this season.

The Oilers conclude their homestand with a 3-2-1 record and now head out on the road for back-to-back games next week against the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers started Saturday's all-Canadian clash a step behind the Buds, making a handful of mistakes that culminated in a 3-0 lead for the Maple Leafs and a happy visiting crowd of Blue & White heading into the intermission inside Rogers Place.

"A couple of turnovers led to penalties against and then their power play went to work," Perry said. "We eliminate those turnovers and I think we would've had a better start."

Early warning bells were ringing for the Oilers in the first minute when defenceman John Klingberg blew a tire trying to defend one-on-one against winger William Nylander, leading to a partial break for Toronto's leading goalscorer that drew goaltender Stuart Skinner into making an early right-pad save.

However, Nylander wouldn't waste his next opportunity when a chip up the boards from Ty Emberson was picked up by John Tavares, who moved the puck into the slot for his linemate to wrist a shot through traffic and past Skinner for the 1-0 lead and the Swedish forward's 30th goal of the season.

Another failed connection by the Oilers outside their blue line before the midway mark of the period resulted in the Maple Leafs taking over possession and quickly earning a power play after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins slashed Pontus Holmberg in the hands as he dug in while driving to the net.

On the ensuing man advantage, Auston Matthews' shot from the right circle wasn't controlled by Skinner before Matthew Knies picked up the rebound and slid it home to double Toronto's lead, putting the Oilers behind 2-0 with 10:52 remaining in the opening frame.

"I don't think the first period was our best, but I certainly didn't think it was bad five-on-five," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "There were only a couple of chances against – one which led to a goal – and then the penalty kill I thought it did a pretty good job except where it's most important around the net."

Just under three minutes later, winger Vasily Podkolzin was guilty of another turnover in the offensive end before taking a high-sticking penalty on the backcheck against Nylander. With 36 seconds left in their second power play, the Maple Leafs made it a perfect 2-for-2 in the opening frame when Wainwright, AB product Bobby McMann roofed a backhander off the rebound with Skinner sprawled out in his crease, lifting the visitors to a three-goal advantage.

"You give anybody a 3-0 lead in this league and they're probably gonna hang on most nights 95 percent of the time," Perry said. "So you eliminate those early mistakes and those little things in a game and it could be different.'

The Oilers had been a perfect 15-for-15 on the penalty kill over their previous six games and were missing defenceman Mattias Ekholm while shorthanded and at even strength after the Swedish blueliner was a scratch on Saturday night due to illness.

"Ekholm makes a big difference on the defensive side, especially on the penalty kill," Knoblauch said. "He's a darn good penalty killer and we missed him there, but I thought our team stepped up, especially on the left side."

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers responded after the break with a strong middle frame that saw them outshoot the Maple Leafs 18-5 and cut into Toronto's lead, but it could've been a lot closer than 3-1 if it weren't for goaltender Joseph Woll's 31 saves through 40 minutes on Saturday.

The Blue & Orange began generating more chances in the period with seven shots against Woll on an early power-play opportunity, but despite their best efforts, they were unable to convert and prevent themselves from falling to 0-for-2 on their opening man advantages.

After Toronto turned the puck over outside their blueline, defenceman Conor Timmins broke up a two-on-one for the Oilers by getting his glove to Connor Brown's attempted pass to Adam Henrique before Woll denied Podkolzin on the follow-up to preserve the three-goal lead.

The Oilers continued to press when Jeff Skinner received an open chance off the rush that he tried to wrap around to the back post before a sliding Timmins cut it off, but after Skinner got to the loose puck first and worked a give-and-go in front with Henrique, Woll made a massive sliding save to take away an amazing chance with his left pad.

But the Oilers weren't about to 'leaf' empty-handed, getting themselves on the board and spoiling Woll's clean-sheet hopes off Evan Bouchard's bomb from the top of the right circle that he blasted home to make it 3-1 with 8:33 left in the frame.

The Oakville, Ont. product's ninth tally of the season was his second-career goal against his hometown team and marked his 50th career goal in his 314th NHL game, becoming the second-fastest defenceman in franchise history to reach the milestone. With nine goals and 30 assists this season, Bouchard is tied with Montreal's Lane Hutson for eighth in the NHL for points by a defenceman.

Edmonton finished the period on the front foot by hemming Toronto into their own zone for well over a minute, including two consecutive icings while the Maple Leafs tried to get their tired skaters off the ice, but the hosts couldn't find another goal before the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD

The Blue & Orange came all the way back, but it was taken away in cruel fashion – in more ways than one – after a dramatic finish in the third period on Hockey Night in Canada.

"We were keeping it simple," Bouchard said. "We were all over them, but we came up short."

The Toronto lead became three again just 18 seconds into the frame when Mitch Marner cut his way through Edmonton's defence and had the rebound go off his skate and through the legs of Stuart Skinner.

There were still more than 19 minutes on the clock for the Oilers to fight back, and this one would come down to the wire.

Zach Hyman reciprocated his former Toronto teammate's lucky bounce almost six minutes later by cutting into the middle on the rush and having his shot go off the back of defenceman Morgan Rielly and in to make it 4-2 for Toronto with 13:56 remaining on his 18th goal of the season.

The comeback was certainly on after Corey Perry's wrist shot at 11:33 of the period from near the top of Toronto's zone floated all the way through traffic before nestling into the right side, giving the 39-year-old double-digit goals this season and leaving the Oilers down a goal with less than half the period left.

With their net empty in the final few minutes, the Oilers found their equalizer, but a coach's challenge for offside would put them back in search of a last-gasp goal to get the game to overtime.

Connor McDavid found Leon Draisaitl in the right circle with a cross-slot pass that the German one-timed over the left shoulder of Woll, tying the game in the final two minutes for the second time this season after he scored at six-on-five during the two teams' last visit in Toronto back in November.

Maple Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube took his team's timeout to give them a longer look at a potential offside on John Klingberg, who would've had his first point as an Oiler had he not been guilty of pulling his leg over the blueline a moment before McDavid entered Toronto's zone.

Sadly, Coach Knoblauch and his staff were expecting a challenge.

"We saw it on the bench and kind of felt it was coming," he said. "It was very close and sometimes it's too close to overturn it, but we did feel it was offside we were getting prepared as if the call was getting overturned and there was going to be a faceoff. So we were set for it."

After Toronto's successful challenge, Edmonton was pulled back down to 4-3 with 2:21 remaining and had a handful of amazing looks to get it back, starting with Nugent-Hopkins having the puck go off his leg and just wide as they attacked. Evan Bouchard had a terrific chance at his second goal of the game that went off the right post for another near-miss by the hosts as they relentlessly pursued an equalizer.

"To me, I thought it was going in," Bouchard said. "Obviously, when you get a look like that with that much time left, you gotta find a way to put that in."

Edmonton's fight came all the way down to the game's final moments when Corey Perry had a last-ditch attempt from between the hashmarks that was gloved by Woll with a sprawling save, serving as the last action in a frenetic finish on Saturday that culminated in a 4-3 defeat for the Oilers.

"I knew there wasn't any time left. I think it hit his glove and the buzzer went, but I knew I didn't have much time to get it off," Perry said. "If I had an extra second, I probably would have stepped around him a little, taken one more step and shot it. But anyway, I didn't have the time."