GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Lightning 2

TAMPA, FL - A step in the right direction.
The Oilers righted some of their recent wrongs, picking up the 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Edmonton's penalty kill rebounded off a poor performance in Washington where they allowed four goals powerplay goals against the Capitals. the recently maligned unit was perfect on the evening, going 5-for-5 against the Lightning -- including a shorthanded goal by Warren Foegele in the first period.
The Oilers powerplay also came up big with a pair of goals. First, Connor McDavid picked up his 14th of the season off a feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Leon Draisaitl would net the evenutal game winner just 2:02 later, whipping a backhand past Vasilevskiy for his ninth of the season.
The Lightning thought they had tied the game with 8:00 left in the period, with Patrick Maroon raising his hands and the goal horn going off. The play was challenged by Head Coach Jay Woodcroft for offsides, but it turned out to be a moot point due to the heroics of Ryan Murray.
Upon review, as the puck bounced off Jack Campbell's post and towards the goal line, Murray came flying in to swipe the opportunity out of harms way, with the puck never fully crossing the line.
The play heads up, hand eye play would prove crucial in the Oilers eventual win.
Campbell had one of his strongest performances as a member of the Oilers, turning aside 35 of 37 shots he faced in the win. Despite the victory, the concern after the game was about the status of Evander Kane, who had to leave the contest after a scary incident in the second period.
The Oilers will now head to Carolina on Thursday for the third game of their four-game trip.

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FIRST BLOOD

With all the talk about the Oilers penalty kill heading into the game, it just had to be that same PK that opened the scoring for Edmonton.
It was Warren Foegele who helped the unit and himself get off the schneid. The Oilers forward took advantage of a Tampa Bay turnover, settled the puck, and ripped a snapshot by Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker for his first goal of the season.
The marker came well against the run of play, with the Lightning outshooting the Oilers 8-0 up until that point.
"I thought he played really well," McDavid said about Foegele. "I thought he was great on the kill, and I thought that whole line in general was good. Cloudy skated really well, and Yamo did his usual resilience. I thought that line provided lots of momentum and all three were great on the kill and provided a big spark for us."
The Oilers lead would be short lived however. Just 2:08 after the opener, the Lightning top-line of Braden Point, Nikita Kucherov, and Brandon Hagel counter attacked on a 3-on-2 with Hagel finishing off the quick passing play with a onetime goal past Campbell.
Tampa Bay outshot Edmonton 16-7 in the opening period, but Campbell was stellar in the frame to give the road tripping Oilers a shot at victory in the next two periods.

POWERPLAY PALS

When the Oilers needed a spark, it was their second ranked powerplay that came to the rescue.
First it was Connor McDavid who continued his torrid early season pace, tapping in a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins cross crease feed at the corner of the net for his 14th goal in his 14th game.
Just a few minute later, with Kucherov in the box for tripping, the Oilers captain spotted Draisaitl alone in the slot. The German received the pass and flung a swift backhander over the shoulder of Vasilevskiy for the 3-1 advantage.
The dynamic duo has continued to stake their claim as the National Hockey League's two top players. McDavid and Draisaitl still sit 1-2 atop the NHL scoring leaderboard with a combined 53 points in only 14 games this season.

SCARY MOMENT

Some moments loom bigger than the game and the injury to Evander Kane is one of them. The powerful Oilers winger was taken into the boards by Phillipe Myers, while he was on the ice, Patrick Maroon appeared to inadvertently step on the winger's wrist.
Kane immediately skated to the Oilers bench, leaving behind a pool of blood on the ice. Play was suspended for several minutes in the wake of the incident.
It was reported later in the game that Evander was stable and has been transported to hospital for a procedure later in the evening. ugent-Hopkins talked about the seriousness of the situation from the bench.
"You could see his face coming off the ice, it almost looked like he hurt something else going down and then he gets up pretty quick and you see it in his face and then you look back and there's all the blood," he said. "So obviously a scary situation but as far as we know, obviously I don't want to comment too much on it but just scary situation."

PARTING WORDS

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the play of Jack Campbell:
"Obviously we needed to give him more support back there for sure and I thought he still made some saves when we needed him to. I thought were just a little more solid in front of him, so it was a big bounce back. We knew that, we knew we needed a big one tonight, so it's definitely nice to get that one"
Nugent-Hopkins on the Kane injury:
"I mean it happened so quick. Obviously you seem him go down, you don't really see what happens. Then he comes rushing off and you see the blood, so obviously you want that whistle right away. You're not going to be able to obviously keep playing. Just everybody, both sides, were worried about him and they're filling us in and just happy that he's okay, but obviously we'll keep checking."
Jay Woodcroft on how the game turned out:
"Yeah, I think first and foremost, everyone on our team within our organization, probably most people in Edmonton, are thinking about a Evander Kane. When an accident like that happens that's where our first thought is. It's never fun to see one of your teammates in that kind of position, but shout out to the great medical staff we have within our organization and the people here at the arena that were quick to respond and make sure that he was okay. And the news that I've received so far and it's very limited, is that he's in a good spot and he's getting well taken care of. So with all that going on, there was a lot of drama in the game. There's two disallowed goals. It came down to the last shot lock at the end of the game, and I was happy for our guys. We dug in and it wasn't easy. We got in at 3:30 in the morning last night and to summons up what was required to be the team of that caliber."

Woodcroft on trying to refocus his team after the Kane injury:
"Yeah, I think what you do is you share the information as you get it. So when the trainer came back to the bench, and when we got word back to the bench, we let our players know immediately, just so there was no concern. Then in between periods, we talked about it. Evander is a real popular teammate, and he's an important piece of our team, and we wanted to make sure that his teammates knew where he was at."
Connor McDavid on rallying gor the win in the back-to-back:
"Yeah, we're definitely not in a good spot. Got in real late last night, obviously a tough one last night, and I thought the boys battled hard and just found a way to win. It's nice to show we can play a little defense. There's a couple of games in a row that got away on us. I thought Stu played great, and I thought the kill was great. It was a huge momentum builder for us all."