GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT)

CHICAGO, IL – It's not necessarily about how many goals your power play scores, but when.

After going 0-for-3 with the man advantage during regulation, the Oilers power play came up with the clutch goal at four-on-three through Zach Hyman 1:36 into overtime to stem a late comeback from the Blackhawks and win their second straight game in sudden death with a 4-3 victory at United Center on Wednesday night.

Edmonton built themselves a 3-1 lead past the eight-minute mark in the third period off Jeff Skinner's 10th goal of the season and Leon Draisaitl's league-leading 38th tally before Chicago fought back to force overtime behind Ryan Donato's power-play marker and Alec Martinez' equalizer with 3:44 remaining.

Teuvo Teravainen had two assists for the Blackhawks but was guilty of a too-many-men penalty in overtime, giving the Oilers the opportunity to rectify three failed power plays in regulation, which Connor McDavid helped satisfy with the perfect pass to Zach Hyman to deflect home the game-winner in front past netminder Arvid Soderblom.

Calvin Pickard was excellent by making 29 saves on 32 shots for the Oilers to improve to 10-1-0 over his last 11 starts, while Soderblom was also great in defeat from the opposite crease with 34 saves for the Blackhawks.

"First of all, Picks was unreal for us. He made some really big saves early in the game, too," Jeff Skinner said. "I think he made some real good saves, but we just stuck with it. Obviously, the power play gets one at the end there for us and we get the two points, which is what we're after, but it's one of those games where we had to grind it out."

Winger Viktor Arvidsson notched Edmonton's other goal in the second period, and Leon Draisaitl took over the NHL's points lead from Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon with a goal and an assist that gives the German 81 points (38 goals) in 54 games this season.

Draisaitl and MacKinnon will go head-to-head in Edmonton's last game before the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off when the Oilers host the Avalanche on Friday night at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers were locked into a scoreless stalemate after 20 minutes for the second straight game on Wednesday against the Blackhawks following an opening period that was owned by goaltenders Calvin Pickard and Arvid Soderblom, who were making some strong early saves between the pipes.

Edmonton was outshot 15-12 by the Blackhawks in the first period to begin this season's rubber match after the two teams split the first two meetings 5-2 in favour of Chicago back on Oct. 12 at Rogers Place before the Oilers fought back to earn a 4-3 victory last month on Jan. 11 at United Center.

Connor Bedard had a great look at opening the scoring less than four minutes into the contest when he put a clean shooting chance against Pickard wide right of the net before Landon Slaggert immediately got his stick up into the face of Evan Bouchard to take the first penalty.

Outside of Bouchard's shot that was eaten up by Soderblom, the Oilers couldn't get much going on their lone man advantage of the frame, with the best chance coming for the Blackhawks on an odd-man break that Pickard turned aside before the home crowd cheered their team's short-handed efforts.

With just under eight minutes remaining in the period, winger Jeff Skinner had a few golden opportunities to score the go-ahead goal at the right post with a couple of whacks at the puck that were turned aside by the outstretched left pad of Soderblom, keeping things level to start a trend of some good goalkeeping on Wednesday night.

"I think it's kind of been part of my game for a while. I think you try and work on little things in tight and any situation you get," Skinner said. "I think I'm still working. Obviously, early in the first period, I had a chance there and would have liked to capitalize, but I think it's just one of those things where it's part of my game and I try to improve it as much as I can."

Skinner was playing in the top six next to Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin on the second line in a shuffle to Edmonton's forward lines brought on by the return of Adam Henrique to the lineup from illness, while Viktor Arvidsson started on the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.

SECOND PERIOD

It was a near-mirror image of the last meeting between the Oilers and Blackhawks at United Center as the two teams went into the final frame tied 1-1, courtesy of Arvidsson's seventh goal of the season that opened the scoring before a late 'Chelsea Dagger' from Chicago levelled things before the buzzer.

Blackhawks superstar Connor Bedard was guilty of two penalties in the middle frame, starting with a turnover that led to him hooking Connor McDavid as he skated away on a three-on-two rush with Hyman and Arvidsson. The Oilers captain drew the penalty and then dropped a pass to Arvidsson before the Swede fired it across to Hyman for a one-timer that needed Soderblom to come up with a fantastic sliding save to keep things level.

Another Bedard turnover soon after fell into the lap of Mattias Janmark to start him up ice with Henrique, where the two exchanged a give-and-go along the red line to get Janmark in alone behind the Blackhawks defence before his shot was blockered away by Soderblom for another important stop.

The Oilers finally solved Soderblom before the nine-minute mark, with Arvidsson finding Janmark along the boards from the top of Chicago's zone before he gave his countryman a terrific turn-around return pass that was short side on Soderblom for his seventh goal of the season.

Arvidsson snapped an eight-game goalless drought on the play, while Brett Kulak contributed a secondary helper to give the Stony Plain product three assists in his last three games.

The Oilers could've given themselves more control if it weren't for their 0-for-3 power play through 40 minutes on Wednesday night, and they were made to rue those missed opportunities when the Blackhawks answered back with only six seconds remaining in the second period.

After Kasperi Kapanen missed wide on a one-timer and McDavid had the puck bobble over his stick behind the net, the Blackhawks transitioned up the ice cleanly – as they seemingly did all evening – before Teuvo Teravainen found Lukas Reichel for a redirection in front that tied the game at 1-1 right before the second intermission.

The Oilers were looking to win their fifth straight at United Center, with each of the last six meetings in Chicago being decided by a goal.

THIRD PERIOD

After Leon Draisaitl's league-leading 38th goal of the season 8:18 into the final frame made it 3-1 to seemingly put the game out of reach, that's when the Blackhawks showed their extra legs with three days rest to have the Oilers scraping into overtime to earn a point in the second of a back-to-back.

Draisaitl helped orchestrate Edmonton's go-ahead goal with a pass from behind the Chicago net just past the opening minute of the period that found Jeff Skinner as he came into the slot before he went forehand-to-back-hand to hit double-digit goals, giving his side the 2-1 lead.

"It was nice vision by him," Skinner said. "Obviously, I'm coming through there, and there's not much time to get it on my stick in the slot there. He finds me at the right time, and I just try to pull it to my backhand and try and find a hole. I kind of squeaked it under his glove."

Skinner has been heating up with three goals and an assist in his last five games, and tonight's top-six opportunity next to Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin on the second line might be the perfect way for the proven 30-goal scorer and one-time 40-goal man to continue that hot form.

"It's pretty good. I think he's an easy guy to play with," Skinner said of Draisaitl. "He wins a lot of battles and makes a lot of great plays. I missed one there in the first. I think he kind of set me up on the wide-open net there, but I thought Podzy played great, too. He's really disruptive on the forecheck. He makes a lot of plays that go unnoticed, but I felt pretty good with those guys."

With Soderblom dealing in the opposite crease, Pickard came up with his biggest save of the night when Bouchard turned the puck over to create a two-on-none for Chicago in front, where the 32-year-old made a superb left-pad save against Pat Maroon to maintain his team's slim advantage.

Pickard's clutch intervention led to Draisaitl being the benefactor of a Chicago turnover in their own zone less than two minutes later, as Skinner was able to pounce on the giveaway by Reichel before sliding it down to the German to throw a quick shot five-hole that doubled Edmonton's lead at 3-1 with over half the third period still to be played.

"Again, I think it's one of those plays where Podz, he's really disruptive on the forecheck and caused a lot of pressure," Skinner said. "We were able to create a turnover, and then I just kind of poked it to him and he did the rest. It's always nice to contribute."

That'd be the last good moment of regulation for the Oilers, however, as the Blackhawks took advantage of their tired legs on the second of back-to-back games and tied the game before the end of regulation by attacking relentlessly in the offensive zone.

Scoring on their only power play of the night, Chicago made it 3-2 on Ryan Donato's deflection past Pickard on a similar look to Reichel's late second-period goal before defenceman Alec Martinez tied things up with 3:44 left in the third period by beating Pickard short side from the left circle. The Oilers have now conceded PPGs on four straight penalty kills – once in Chicago, once in St. Louis and twice at home against Toronto.

On the last play of regulation, Teravainen scraped at a one-timer that went over Pickard as he dove out to take away the shot, but it struck the crossbar to allow the Oilers to escape to overtime with a point.

"Overall, I think a lot of credit to them," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I thought they played hard and we're playing a back-to-back, so they had the jump. They were much quicker than we were for most of the night and we had a good push in the first 10 minutes of the third period. Then, as soon as we made it 3-1, they came at us and forced us to turn over pucks a couple of times on the breakouts, and those led to some scoring chances, obviously one against on the power play.

"It's a long season. It's not fair to think that we're going to be 100 percent every night."

OVERTIME

What an excellent time it was for the Oilers to rectify a quiet evening with the man advantage.

It was incredible action early in overtime at United Center, with McDavid having a breakaway impeded by defenceman Frank Nazar and a three-on-one for the Blue & Orange yielding no shot on goal before Teravainen jumped on the ice a bit too early trying to take away a stretch pass from Bouchard to Draisaitl.

That early jump sent the Oilers to a four-on-three power play, and it's not necessarily about how many you score with the man advantage, but when.

After assisting on Connor Brown's game-winner in St. Louis the previous night, McDavid would pick out Zach Hyman in front this time for the winger to deflect the decisive sudden-death tally beyond Soderblom to win the Oilers the extra point and back-to-back overtime victories.

Despite their opponents forging their way back in the third period on both occasions, power play or not – this is a team that thrives in extra time.

"Three-on-three play, we're obviously built for it," Knoblauch said. "We got some players that excel in that situation. Unfortunately, we were in that situation both nights, and we found a way, which was nice, but we just got away with a lot of things that we got to clean up."

With the victory, the Oilers took advantage of their game in hand on the Vegas Golden Knights, moving four points clear of their rivals for first place in the Pacific Division as they head back home to host the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place on Friday in their final game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.