GAME RECAP: Oilers 2, Canadiens 1 (OT)

MONTREAL, QC – For the first time in franchise history, the Oilers have won 10 consecutive games.

And they did so in dramatic fashion on Hockey Night in Canada at Bell Centre in Montreal, beating the Canadiens 2-1 in overtime on the strength of an Evan Bouchard sudden-death Bouch Bomb.

The defenceman's 10th goal of the season at 2:01 of extra time allowed the Oilers to prevail on a night where they outshot their opponents 41-24, persevering against a hot goalie for the second consecutive game.

On Thursday it was Detroit's Alex Lyon who slammed the door through two periods, and on Saturday it was Sam Montembeault's turn to frustrate the Blue & Orange, but they broke their goose egg in the third once again before securing the victory in overtime.

"It's a great little streak we've got going," said Leon Draisaitl, who scored Edmonton's opening goal in the third. "There was a lot of wins in this organization for a long time, so it's kind of hard to believe that they never won 10 games in a row back then with the teams they had. But we'll obviously take it and it's something that no one can take from us from now on and we're just looking to continue that."

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers put themselves behind the eight-ball early when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for tripping and the Canadiens converted on the power play to take a 1-0 lead just 1:43 into the game.

Edmonton was unable to clear the zone on the penalty kill and Montreal captain Nick Suzuki found Cole Caufield for a no-doubt snipe past a diving Stuart Skinner for his 12th tally of the season.

Prior to that power-play goal against, the Oilers had gone five straight games and 19 consecutive shorthanded situations without getting scored on. They got back to their killing ways later in the frame, though, as Mattias Janmark was also called for tripping but the Canadiens couldn't extend their lead.

Philip Kemp completed the first period of his NHL career with two shifts for 1:14 time on ice; however, none of that time came as a defenceman as he was instead deployed at right wing on a line with Adam Erne and James Hamblin.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers were the dominant team in the middle frame, generating seven of the eight scoring chances in the period (87.5 SCF%) per Natural Stat Trick, but the score remained 1-0 Montreal through 40 minutes.

Evan Bouchard blasted a Bouch Bomb off the post just over three minutes into the period, and also set up Nugent-Hopkins for a dangerous one-timer with 1:11 to go in the period, but Montembeault slid across his crease to make one of his 12 saves in the middle stanza.

The Oilers also got their first man advantage of the night at the 12:04 mark of the period, but a couple misfires on scoring attempts allowed Montembeault to make easier saves than the visitors hoped.

"Some nights the puck just doesn't go in," Draisaitl said of the low-scoring affair. "Their goalie was really good tonight. He made a lot of big saves on a lot of our top guys, but we stick with it and know that eventually we'll find one or two."

THIRD PERIOD & OVERTIME

The Oilers were finally able to scale the mountain of Montembeault 38 seconds into the third, as Draisaitl smacked home a puck that was wedged between the goalie's skate and the post after Warren Foegele made an aggressive drive to the net.

The Canadiens challenged the play for goaltender interference as Foegele did make some contact on Montembeault's blocker arm as he plowed his way through the crease, but the call was upheld and the Oilers had their equalizer – plus a power play.

Birthday boy Connor McDavid was called for actual goalie interference during the ensuing man advantage, creating a four-on-four scenario that saw Foegele wire a wrist shot off the post after Bouchard sprung him and Evander Kane on a two-on-one rush.

Foegele's high-event period continued toward the midway mark when he was dealt a tripping minor, and despite Montreal spending nearly the full two-minute PP in the Oilers zone, the PK prevailed.

Brendan Gallagher was called for hooking Cody Ceci with 1:49 on the clock to send the Oilers back to the PP, but they weren't able to find the game-winner in regulation and off to OT we went.

Edmonton got yet another man advantage in the sudden-death period when Mike Matheson high-sticked Darnell Nurse, leading to Bouchard's game-winning blast that first hit the post, then Montembeault, then rolled over the goal line.

"We just found ways to win games, and whether that's been good goaltending, special teams, power play, penalty kill, third, fourth, first line, everybody's contributed," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "You don't put a streak together just relying on one line or a few guys. I'm very happy we were able to do it."

"The whole week has come down to patience," defenceman Mattias Ekholm said of the team winning its three road games by one goal. "We've stuck with it. Nobody's deviated from the plan. I think we've just been calm with being down and just knowing that we have it in here over 60 minutes.

"I feel like we're taking steps... Earlier it was almost like we were hanging our hat on scoring six goals every night and it's tough to do in this league. So for us to be able to just kind of dig some wins out in a manner like this speaks volumes."

Next up for the Oilers is a home date with Canada's other Original Six team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who make their lone visit to Rogers Place this season on Tuesday.

Edmonton will also host an important divisional matchup against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.