GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Jets 3 (OT)

WINNIPEG, MB – Zach Hyman wasted no time scoring his 51st goal of the season, picking up the game-winner in overtime for his 200th career NHL goal as the Edmonton Oilers earned themselves the extra point in a hard-fought 4-3 victory at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday night.

“It was a hard game from start to finish, and they’re a team that's up there in the standings,” Darnell Nurse said. “They've won a lot of games, especially here on home ice, so it was a good win for us."

The winger got himself back on the scoresheet after becoming a member of the 50-goal club on Sunday by burying his own rebound past Connor Hellebuyck 1:22 into extra time after Winnipeg battled their way back during the final frame with two goals in a minute from Brenden Dillon and Sean Monahan.

"His play on the ice speaks for itself, but in the locker room, he's just such a good guy who cares about each and every person and brings such a positive attitude and a lot of work to our group," Nurse added.

Leon Draisaitl and Connor Brown scored 1:43 apart in the second period to erase Mason Appleton's opening goal, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was able to break a 13-game goalless drought on the power play in the final stanza with his 17th tally of the campaign.

Nugent-Hopkins finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Connor McDavid followed suit with two helpers in the victory to reach 93 assists and 119 points in his 68th game this season. Stuart Skinner secured the victory with 22 saves on 25 shots despite a resilient Hellebuyck, who was solid with 38 stops for Winnipeg despite taking the defeat.

"We don't think we're done," Brown said. "We've got a job to do in this regular season and it's one game at a time, and I really liked our process in the game tonight."

The Oilers return home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

For the second straight game, the Oilers were the victims of a soft call from the officials when Nurse's slight touch to the left knee of Josh Morrissey along the half-boards was called for tripping, sending the Jets to an early power play.

Edmonton's penalty kill turned aside the host's fortunate opportunity with the man advantage, but the Oilers trailed 7-1 in shots with six-and-a-half minutes gone in the first period as the Jets enjoyed the majority of puck possession in the opening few minutes.

Corey Perry sparked the Oilers bench with a scrap against defenceman Logan Stanley off a dump-in that brought the two players together in the former, leading to a lengthy fight between one of the League's perennial agitators and a tough customer in Stanley, who stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 231 pounds.

Right off the next faceoff, Edmonton got their best opportunity at cracking Hellebuyck when Mattias Ekholm's quick point shot forced the former Vezina Trophy winner into a stellar left-pad stop on Hyman after the rebound fell to him with 12:17 to go in the first period.

Winnipeg nearly found the go-ahead goal in the period's final seconds when Sean Monahan received an unlocking pass at the Oilers blueline for a breakaway, but the centre sent his shot off the crossbar to keep us scoreless at 0-0 through 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

Mason Appleton's opening goal inside the second period's opening five minutes for the Jets didn't prevent the Oilers from dominating the middle stanza to the tune of a 2-1 lead and a 17-4 shellacking in the shot department.

The Jets centre finished a rebound off Kyle Connor's initial shot 4:46 into the middle frame to give the Jets a one-goal lead that persisted through the first half of the middle frame until the Oilers scored twice in a 1:43 stretch to take a 2-1 lead after Nurse dropped the gloves with Brenden Dillon for another scrap.

"it was one of those games. A pretty physical game," Nurse said. "We go through a lot of regular-season games where there's not a ton of physicality, and then all of a sudden tonight, there was quite a lot."

Connor McDavid had the puck on his stick during a zone entry close to the 12-minute mark before he shouldered away a Jets defender and delivered a pass to Warren Foegele, who then offloaded the ensuing pass onto the tape of Leon Draisaitl for the German to waltz around an outstretched an out-of-position Hellebuyck to nestle his 38th goal of the campaign into the yawning cage.

Edmonton was all over Winnipeg at this point in the game, and Brown wasn't going to be denied less than two minutes later when he unleashed an unstoppable wrist shot from between the circles that beat Hellebuyck clean into the top corner, marking the winger's third goal of the season to lift the Oilers into a 2-1 lead.

"It was great. Nice pass by Ekky there," Brown said. "I thought our line was doing a lot of good things with the puck and it's nice to get rewarded."

Brown found himself in the box less than a minute later for a double minor for high-sticking, leaving the rest of his fellow penalty-killers to fend off a lengthy Jets power play to perfection and keep their team ahead by a goal through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

For what felt like could've been a confident lead for the Oilers after they eventually went ahead by two goals through Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, that feeling quickly evaporated much in the same way that Winnipeg's earlier lead in the middle frame was eliminated.

The Oilers were given their turn to make something happen on a double minor for high-sticking – this time to Nikolaj Ehlers for getting his stick into the jibs of Nurse at the Winnipeg blueline near the 14-minute mark of the final frame.

Nugent-Hopkins beamed to the back post on McDavid's power-play zone entry and took a pass from his captain and redirected his 17th goal of the campaign short side on Hellebuyck, breaking up the longest-tenured Oilers forward's 13-game goalless drought dating back to Feb. 26 at Rogers Place against Los Angeles.

But Edmonton's two-goal lead quickly evaporated when the Jets tied the game with two goals in a minute over the third period's midway mark, with Brenden Dillon burying a slap shot behind a screened Skinner before Sean Monahan deflected home Ehlers' effort on goal from the left circle not long after.

The officials looked to have made another mistake late in the game when Nugent-Hopkins was called for high-sticking despite his stick not coming in contact with Adam Lowry's face, with the officials meeting at the penalty box to discuss the call and determine if it should be reversed.

"I mean, I don't know if it's worse if you didn't do it or that you did do it," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Regardless, you're sitting in the box with two minutes left. Pretty stressful. But obviously, a massive kill and big saves when we needed them from Skinny. I didn't feel like I got him. I thought at first he was going to call me for a hook or something, but the guys got the job done."

Nonetheless, the call on the ice stood, but Edmonton's penalty kill was up to the task again at a critical moment to see out the Winnipeg man advantage and send this game into overtime.

"Everyone's worked up and upset with the call, but everyone's mature and professional and they still know they have a job to do and you saw it," Knoblauch said. "You know, obviously we're a little unfocused and upset at the moment, but I think once that puck's getting dropped for the start of the faceoff, everyone's dialled in and they've forgotten what happened before and they are ready to do the job."

"They were sharp and they made a lot of good plays to eliminate any scoring chances they had."

OVERTIME

After he ascended into the 50-goal club for the first time in his career on Sunday in Ottawa, the Oilers leading goalscorer's 51st goal of the season was a classic Hyman hard-working goal.

"He's a big-time player for us and he shows up time and time again in big moments, and we're lucky to have him," Brown said.

Hyman had the puck on his stick in the right circle during three-on-three and was able to walk in and fire a backhand that was stopped initially by Hellebuyck before he was beaten five-hole by Hyman's ensuing rebound at 3:38 of the extra frame.