GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Mammoth 2

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Two goals apiece from Jack Roslovic and Connor McDavid including the captain's 400th of his career highlighted a 5-2 Oilers victory over the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday at Delta Center.

Between the pipes, Tristan Jarry turned aside 16 of the 18 shots he faced to record the victory in his first appearance since March 12, while Evan Bouchard assisted on three Edmonton goals.

The Oilers improved to 5-0-0 all-time against the Mammoth and the two points propelled them past the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division. The Blue & Orange are off to Sin City for another key positioning matchup on Thursday.

"It was a good one, one that we hope we can replicate," McDavid said of the team's all-around effort. "Obviously on Thursday and one that we hope to repeat time and time again."

"A lot more attention to the defensive details, a lot more grit, a lot more simplicity," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch added. "Not turning pucks over, getting pucks in deep. Going forward, especially without Leon, we definitely need to be playing like that. And even when Leon comes back, we need to still play that. It's a playoff-hockey-type game that we just played."

FIRST PERIOD

Vasily Podkolzin made his presence felt right off the opening draw as he steamrolled Barrett Hayton in the corner on the forecheck, knocking the Mammoth forward out of the game with an apparent arm or wrist injury just 17 seconds into the period.

The Oilers appeared as though they might lose a player as well midway through the frame when Jake Walman was struck in the mid-section with a point shot. The defenceman laboured to the bench and got some attention from Head Athletic Therapist T.D. Forss but ultimately stayed in the game.

And it's a good thing he did as Walman set up Jack Roslovic for Edmonton's opening goal, but not before Alex Kerfoot made it 1-0 Utah on a bizarre bounce at the 11:12 mark. The Mammoth forward's shot hit Darnell Nurse and Connor Murphy before floating high into the air and past Tristan Jarry, who had understandably lost track of the puck after the double ricochet.

Roslovic drew the Oilers even at 14:27 as he corralled Walman's pass and rifled a wrist shot past Karel Vejmelka for his 18th goal of the season. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up the second assist on the play for his 800th career point.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers had the best chance of the early stages of the middle frame when Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard executed a nifty give-and-go with the blueliner belting Vejmelka in the mask in an attempt to pick the top corner.

It took until the 11-minute mark of the period for the game's first penalty as Zach Hyman was called for high-sticking on Clayton Keller, but it was Edmonton who capitalized with a shorthanded marker to go up 2-1 as Bouchard set up Matt Savoie in the high slot for a sneaky wrister through the Mammoth netminder.

"He's playing well, he's doing a lot of really good things," McDavid said of Savoie, who now has 29 points on the season. "That was a huge goal on the kill. He plays with a lot of energy. He's got a great motor on him and keeps pucks alive, and that's all you can ask for."

The Oilers may have scored first during Hyman's penalty, but Utah did convert with a power-play equalizer as Lawson Crouse chipped one over Jarry. The visitors regained their lead mere moments later, though, as Mattias Ekholm sent McDavid into the attacking zone with a bouncing puck that the captain was able to wedge off Vejmelka's shoulder and in to make it 3-2.

McDavid's 39th goal of the season was also the 400th of his career and 1,199th NHL point in game 784.

After the teams rattled off three goals in 43 seconds, the Oilers kept pushing and extended their lead to 4-2 at 15:04 when Hyman lifted a backhand off the crossbar and Roslovic deposited the rebound through Vejmelka's legs for his second of the game and 19th of the season.

"It was an exciting period," Knoblauch said of the back-and-forth middle frame. "You get that shorthanded goal, you're feeling pretty good. They counter and then McDavid the goal to respond after that. We managed the ups and downs."

THIRD PERIOD

Roslovic's second tally eventually chased Vejmelka out of the game as the Mammoth started the third with Vitek Vanecek between the pipes.

The goalie swap spurred Utah as Nick Schmaltz sizzled a shot off the post 72 seconds into the period and Jason Dickinson was called for a holding-the-stick penalty on the play to send the Mammoth to their second PP of the night. The Oilers held the fort on the PK, though, to keep their 4-2 cushion.

With 7:06 remaining, Roslovic came within inches of tallying his hat-trick goal when Vanecek was out of position on a big bounce off the end boards, but the Oilers winger lifted his shot just over the bar.

Jarry made an impressive pad save on a Logan Cooley one-timer with just over three minutes remaining, paving the way for McDavid's empty-netter to round out the impressive win with his 1,200th career point.

"It's a big number, obviously, and I feel like I've got a lot of great years ahead of me still, which is exciting," the captain said of his milestones. "It's a reflection of time past and I'm incredibly grateful to play with so many great players to knock some of these milestones off."