GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Senators 4 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – Back on home ice with a bang.

Zach Hyman scored with the net empty late in regulation, and Evan Bouchard completed the comeback 1:50 into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers fought back to earn a 5-4 comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

"We know we can come back against any team," Bouchard said. "It's not what we want to do -- we want to be playing with the lead -- but it's good to know we can stay confident and that we have the guys that can get us back in it."

Leon Draisaitl was terrific with two goals and three assists, scoring both of Edmonton's goals in the first period to erase two separate one-goal leads for Ottawa before assisting on each of his team's final three tallies to help them fight back to earn the extra point.

The German has now recorded four or more points in two of his last three games after leading the Oilers with the seventh five-point night of his career. 

Draisaitl looked to have secured his hat-trick early in the third period on the power play before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got credit for his 15th goal of the campaign, making it 4-3  until Zach Hyman equalized at six-on-five in the final two minutes of regulation.

Evan Bouchard blasted home the game-winner in overtime on the power play and added an assist to reach 18 goals and the 70-point mark this season after Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was called for holding in extra time.

Connor McDavid also contributed two helpers, and Mattias Ekholm recorded his 300th career assist in the victory that moves the Oilers two points back of Vegas for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

The Oilers will be back in action on Friday when they begin a tough four-game stretch at home against the Carolina Hurricanes before hitting the road to face Vegas, Colorado and Dallas next week.

FIRST PERIOD

Leon Draisaitl wasn't going to complain about how they went in, but his pair of goals in the opening 20 minutes off two lucky breaks to overturn two leads from the Senators were far from enough to call a 2-2 tie after the first period successful for the Oilers.

Ottawa regrouped off an errant pass from Jake Walman through the middle to take the lead just over three and a half minutes into the contest, with Nick Cousins redirecting a feed from Thomas Chabot into the path of Dylan Cozens to beat Connor Ingram under the crossbar for a 1-0 Ottawa lead.

The Oilers answered back quickly just 1:29 later when Leon Draisaitl capitalized on Linus Ullmark's mistake from being unable to freeze the puck on an Ekholm shot from the right, falling loose in the crease before it was put back through by Ekholm for Draisaitl in front to finish off easily and make it 1-1 with his 32nd goal of the campaign.

With the primary assist, Ekholm picked up the 300th helper of his career and extended his point streak to five games (0G, 5A).

The Oilers were guilty of three penalties in the opening frame, and the Senators made them pay just 1:31 later with Evan Bouchard in the penalty box for high-sticking when they retook the lead on Drake Batherson's glove-side snipe from the left circle.

After the Oilers killed off their next two penalties, Draisaitl was given another break just before the three-minute mark.

Draisaitl tried to find Matt Savoie out front from behind the Ottawa net, but his pass attempt managed to pinball its way off two Ottawa skates and sneak its way past Ullmark at the right post to even things up at 2-2 before the intermission.

Matt Savoie picked up an assist and now has seven points (1G, 6A) since returning from the Olympic break. "The best hockey that I've seen him play," added Knoblauch.

The Germans' 32nd and 33rd goals and an assist later in the third period extended his own point streak to three games (4G, 3A), but the Oilers knew they had more to give despite being all tied up after 20 minutes.

"We weren't able to get our offensive game going, and obviously that's something," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We like spending time in the offensive zone and grinding them down there and wearing them down. But three penalties in the first period kind of took away that momentum. After the first period, we were able to stay out of the penalty box and played a pretty good game after that."

SECOND PERIOD

In just a 41-second span in the first six minutes of the middle frame, the Senators would get those bounces back for Draisaitl by striking twice through Drake Batherson and Michael Amadio to push their advantage to 4-2 through 40 minutes of action.

Draisaitl's German counterpart Tim Stützle found an opening at the back post for Drake Batherson that was left by Connor McDavid before firing a back-door pass that he away easily to lift Ottawa back into the lead at 3-2 on Batherson's second of the night less than five minutes into the second period.

Under a minute later, the Senators benefitted from Spencer Stastney getting his stick caught between the legs of Lars Eller around the Oilers crease before Amadio collected the loose and fired it far side on Ullmark to make it 4-2 -- much to the Oilers' frustration.

"We can't give away easy goals," Bouchard said. "Simple plays around the net. Stay hard around there and know if they want to score from the outside, give them that. But it's more tightening up around the crease and around the net."

After 40 minutes, the Oilers found themselves down by a pair despite outshooting the Senators 25-18 through two frames and needed a big response in the third of their return home for the first time in a month.

"We knew that wasn't good enough, four goals in 40 minutes," Bouchard said. "As I said, we stayed confident. We knew we could come back, and that's what we did."

THIRD PERIOD

Draisaitl's celebrations over his ninth-career hat trick would be short-lived less than two minutes into the final frame, but not Edmonton's comeback hopes in this one.

It took the whole third period, but you can never count this team out.

"Yeah, we knew we had to have a push in the third period," Bouchard said. "The first two weren't good enough. Giving up four goals is not a good recipe for success, but we knew we had to stick with it. We had the guys that can put the puck in the net, and it took the full 20, but that's what it took."

The hats flew onto the ice when Draisaitl looked to have secured his hat-trick with a power-play tally that made it 4-3 with 1:58 gone into the third, but the showering of chapeaus was premature after the puck caught a small piece of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins's skate on the way through as he tried to jump over his shot.

Draisaitl would ultimately add an assist to his tally on Nugent-Hopkins' 15th of the season to give him three points on the night, and the German wouldn't be done there after having a helping hand in Zach Hyman's late equalizer with Edmonton's net empty.

Hyman came perilously close to tying things up before Ingram hit the bench for the extra attacker by putting a one-timer from Connor McDavid off the side of Ottawa's net, but he made up for the miss at six-on-five by redirecting Draisaitl's back-door feed from inside the crease with 1:25 left in regulation.

"Desperation," described Hyman. "You gotta win games, and we gotta keep the puck out of our net, obviously. But when we are down, we have the firepower to be able to come back.

"We don't want to be putting ourselves in that position as we have been of late, too often, but sometimes, you need a game like that where you come back, and it's a complete team effort, and you're able to dominate a third period and win a game. So I thought it was a good one for us and hopefully a spring toward better games."

For the second time in three games, Draisaitl recorded four points and would inevitably have a hand in Edmonton securing the comeback win on the power play in overtime.

OVERTIME

It had to feel extra good with that guy in the box.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk heard boo's all evening thanks to his role with Team USA winning gold at this past month's Winter Olympics, but those turned to cheers when he absolutely manhandled McDavid to put the Oilers on the power play with the chance to win it in overtime by hauling him down in the neutral zone to prevent a two-on-one.

Bouchard blasted the winning goal over the left pad of Ullmark at 1:50 of overtime, completing the comeback with his 18th goal of the season that was also his 70th point.

"It's been good for me, but my teammates are putting me in good spots to succeed," Bouchard said. "It's all about the team wins right now."

With an assist on the game-tying goal to go with his overtime winner, Bouchard reached 70 points in 62 games -- the first time he has done so since 2023-24, when he posted 82 points (17 goals) in all 82 games.

Draisaitl also became the third Oilers player this season to factor in on each of his team’s five or more goals in a game, with the others being Bouchard (3G, 3A on Jan. 24) and McDavid (0G, 5A on Dec. 23).