GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Jets 3

WINNIPEG, MB – The victories continue to be diverted out of Winnipeg.

Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist to match his career-best point streak of 17 games, while both Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard scored as the Edmonton Oilers came back from two goals down in the third period on Thursday to defeat the Winnipeg Jets with a 4-3 victory at Canada Life Centre.

The Jets scored twice in 40 seconds after Vasily Podkolzin tied it up with 2:58 left in the opening frame, but after McDavid matched his career-high point streak with his 29th goal in the final 30 seconds of the middle stanza, the Oilers would go on to take advantage of a fragile Jets side that's now lost 11 straight games.

"Obviously, we've all been in the situation that the Jets are in," Hyman said. "When you're not winning games, it's hard to close a game out. So I think that goal was really important for us to put pressure on them and then get going. It's a lot easier to come back from one than it is two."

Zach Hyman sniped it past Connor Hellebuyck 8:19 into the third period to equalize with his 13th goal of the season before Evan Bouchard gave the Oilers the 4-3 lead on the power play 1:17 later, making a defensive stop at one end before going up the ice to snipe the winner on his ninth of the campaign.

The Oilers showed toughness in different ways on Thursday after Darnell Nurse blocked a hard shot in the first period, Trent Frederic dropped the gloves with Logan Stanley in the second, and Bouchard made a big defensive stop on the power play in the third before scoring the game-winner at the other end.

Calvin Pickard was under siege during the first period after allowing three goals on 11 shots, but the 33-year-old needed to make only five shots the rest of the way to finish with 16 saves in his second straight win over his hometown team after stopping a career-high 41 shots back on Dec. 29.

The Oilers maintain their hold on first place in the Pacific Division with their second straight win, improving to 22-16-6 this season.

Edmonton will be back at home on Saturday night to host the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

The Jets hadn't been getting the bounces over their 10-game losing streak that'd taken them to the bottom of the NHL standings, but it was looking like they were potentially coming out of their funk in the first period with a 3-1 lead, scoring twice in 40 seconds after Vasily Podkolzin responded for the Oilers.

Edmonton was wondering how they didn't score on the power play for the 11th time in their last 12 games on their first man advantage under six minutes in, with Logan Stanley sticking out his skate to take away a one-timer from Leon Draisaitl in the right circle that looked destined for the back of the net.

Pickard finally faced his first shot nine minutes into the contest with the Oilers holding a 5-0 advantage in shots, making two point-blank saves on Jonathan Toews and Nino Neiderreiter before Kyle Connor opened the scoring after the Jets got back to even strength.

Mark Scheifele funnelled a pass out front from behind the Oilers' net for Kyle Connor, who controlled the bounce off a stick before wiring a wrist shot top shelf past Pickard at 11:11 of the opening period.

There was concern for Darnell Nurse later in the period when he blocked a heavy shot from the point off the inside of his left knee, going down hard and needing to be helped off the ice by Evan Bouchard, but he was able to fight through the pain to get to the bench and would stay in the game.

The franchise's leader in blocked shots blocked two in the first period and reached 1,400 for his career, becoming just the 60th player in NHL history to register that many blocked shots since the 2002-03 season, and Nurse's block was one of the many heroic actions of the Oilers that helped earn the win.

"It's the little things," Bouchard said of Nurse's block. "Anything that you can grab onto to give yourself momentum. It's huge. Doc blocking that shot and Freddy fighting was big for us."

It was soon after that the Oilers found the equalizer, when Kasperi Kapanen made a hard drive behind the Winnipeg net before his no-look backhand pass in front was put away by Vasily Podkolzin as he drove to the net and fought off Alex Iafallo to reach double-digit goals this season.

Podkolzin's 10th goal of the season was his first goal since Dec. 16 in Pittsburgh, and he now has points in back-to-back games (1G, 2A) and needs just four more goals this season to match his career high of 14 from the 2021-22 season, along with seven more points to match his career high.

Kapanen also has points in back-to-back games (1G, 2A) and 5 points (1G, 4A) over his last seven games played after returning to the Oilers' lineup from a 36-game injury absence against Nashville on Tuesday, where he scored his first goal of the season.

But the Jets were able to answer back 1:14 later with the first of two goals in 40 seconds, with Tanner Pearson wrapping one inside the post before Josh Morrissey got credit for a slow-rolling puck that managed to find its way through after the original shot struck the skate of Spencer Stastney.

The Jets took a 3-1 lead into the intermission after coming back in the second half to outshoot the Oilers 11-7 over the period.

SECOND PERIOD

Make it a 17-game point streak for Connor McDavid right at the end of a strong finish from the Oilers to the middle frame.

You almost knew it was coming for the Oilers, having the final seven shots of the second and receiving a big scrap from Trent Frederic before waiting until there were 21 seconds left in the frame for Connor McDavid to score on another terrific individual effort to make it a one-goal game.

The Jets looked dangerous to start the middle stanza, with Logan Stanley's 97.1 miles per hour slapshot off the crossbar coming the closest to almost putting the game out of reach with a few minutes left in the second period, before Frederic's fight with Stanley with a couple of minutes left turned the tide.

"They came out hard. That's a desperate team," Bouchard said. "We started getting it together later in the game. Big fight for Freddy to get us going. I think that really rallied us together."

Stanley dropped the gloves with Trent Frederic in a heavyweight scrap before the buzzer, where they traded a couple of haymakers as it looked like it was going to finish a scoreless frame before McDavid finally arrived in this one to make it a one-goal game off the rush with 30 seconds left in the period.

"It's a great win for us," Hyman said. "A great team win. I think a lot of guys contributed in different ways. As much as people want to phase out of the game, there is an element to [fighting] that can help turn the team game around. I thought Freddy sticking up for Davo, fighting a big man and doing that, people say it's a coincidence that we scored a couple shifts later, but I think there's something to that. Obviously, he's done it a couple of times now, so good on Fred."

After the Oilers escaped their own zone with a fast breakout, they moved it up ice on a three-on-two rush before the puck came back to McDavid, who had space in front to kick a pass behind him from Draisaitl up to his stick and put it back across Hellebuyck to extend his point streak with his 29th goal.

McDavid reached 40 points (18G, 22A) over his 17-game point streak and also has goals in three straight games, scoring five times. This is tied for the longest point streak of his career with two other streaks – from Nov. 26 to Dec. 30, 2022 (16G, 21A) and from Oct. 13 to Nov. 20, 2021 (12G, 32A).

The Oilers outshot the Jets 12-3 in the middle frame, in addition to getting a goal back to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

The Jets are a fragile team right now, and the Oilers took full advantage to take both points from Winnipeg and sweep the season series, completing their comeback in the third period for a 4-3 victory over the former Presidents' Trophy winners, who've now lost 11 straight games (0-7-4).

"Often, that sometimes goes in our players' minds that maybe it's going to be easy, and I think they're vulnerable, but I don't necessarily see them playing badly," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "The NHL is funny that the parity is so even, and when games aren't going their way, you're not getting that last save or the last goal or you think about the chances they don't get."

The Oilers outshot the Jets 19-2 over the final 26 minutes of the hockey game and deservedly tied things up when Zach Hyman beat Connor Hellebuyck over the left shoulder with a wicked snipe that made it 3-3 before the 11-minute mark of the third period. Hyman scored his 13th goal, and Nurse added the assist.

"He's a big goalie," Hyman said. "I tried to go cross-side on him on the backhand. That's kind of the usual move I make, but I thought that had some time to go short side, and obviously, I was able to beat him, which was a big goal for us."

The Jets continued to unravel and found themselves shorthanded 1:02 later on a delay of game penalty to Niederreiter for sending the puck over the glass, and it was Bouchard who would pick his spot top shelf on Hellebuyck for the 4-3 lead after he made the desperate intervention at the other end.

Bouchard got his stick to take away a dangerous shorthanded opportunity for Iafallo before the Oilers went up the ice with numbers, with McDavid dropping the puck to Bouchard coming over the blueline before beating the screen set by Hyman to bury it top shelf on Hellebuyck to give his side the lead.

"He made a ton of great plays," Bouchard said. "he made one on Davo's goal up the ice, and he made a number of ones that didn't go in. And then obviously, getting the game-winning goal, not many guys are better at picking a corner from there than him. So I just tried not to get hit."

Bouchard picked up a goal and an assist on Thursday to put him on a three-game point streak (2G, 2A) while reaching 40 points (9G, 32A) for the season, giving him the fifth 40-point season of his career. The goal was terrific, but Bouchard's defensive play that led to the go-ahead goal was just as good.

"That's a big focus of mine," Bouchard said of his defence. "The offence will come, especially with the guys that we have on our team. It's more the defensive side that you got focused on."

The power play proved timely, as the Oilers converted a PPG for the 10th time in their last 11 contests.

"Timing is everything," Bouchard said. "It's momentum in the game. It's a big swing in the game. When you get a chance like that, definitely near the end of the third period, it's one that you've got to capitalize on. I think that's when we really are at our best."

The Jets went almost 21 minutes without getting a shot before they broke the spell with five and a half minutes left in regulation, and their late power play and attempt at pulling Hellebuyck for the extra attacker weren't able to reverse their fortunes as the dark days continued in Winnipeg at the bottom of the NHL.

The Oilers, meanwhile, will hold down top spot in the Pacific Division for another day, improving to 22-16-6 this season.