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OILERS TODAY | Chris Wescott wraps up the game
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POST-GAME RAW | Todd McLellan
WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers continue their final road trip of the season when they take on the Flames in Calgary. The game is at 8 p.m. MDT and can be seen on Sportsnet and CBC or heard on 630 CHED and the Oilers Radio Network.
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Inside The Oilers Blog
"We definitely had our chances but we couldn't get that second one by him," Oilers forward and nearby Burnaby native Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said following the defeat. "He was really solid and made some huge saves… They played a stingy game."
"I thought that Markstrom had an excellent game," echoed Head Coach Todd McLellan. "Not an awful game by us, but a game where the opportunities that presented themselves needed to be finished and they weren't."
The Oilers came out with plenty of jump to start the game, particularly Vancouver native Milan Lucic, who doled out three thunderous hits in the opening frame and was robbed of the opening goal. Ryan Strome found him streaking to the net but his shot was denied by the blocker of Markstrom to keep the game scoreless.
The visitors kept pushing and were rewarded with the first goal of the night at 11:33 with the odds-on-favourite to score it doing just that. After Andrej Sekera chipped the puck out from deep in the Oilers zone, McDavid was in full pursuit, winning a footrace with former Oiler Sam Gagner and hammering a shot off the post and in.
"He got in behind him and it was a quick release," McLellan said. "It was a beautiful goal."
The highlight-reel finish was the Oilers captain's 41st of the season, putting him just four back of Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead. His league-leading 103rd point was also his 26th tally in the last 29 games, extending his goal streak to five games and point streak to six, with seven goals and seven assists in that span.
It took until the 15:14 mark of the middle frame for the next goal to be scored and it came from Gagner as he atoned for losing the battle with McDavid in the first period to even the score at 1-1. Shortly after the Oilers were unable to convert on a power-play opportunity, Gagner whacked home his own rebound for his 10th of the season.
McDavid and Leon Draisaitl had dangerous shorthanded scoring opportunities in the final minutes of the second but Markstrom denied them on both occasions and had 23 saves through 40 minutes.
The Canucks struck again exactly two minutes into the third period when the blueliner Pouliot snuck up into the high slot, skated in on Talbot, deked to his left and waited out the Oilers netminder for his third of the season.
"We lost coverage, we got looking at the puck and Pouliot made a good jump to the hole," McLellan said. "He also made a tremendous pump fake, and when you do that the goalie comes out to commit. You have to give him credit for having the poise to make the play."
Markstrom was rock-solid in the final frame, saving his best for last and making 12 more stops to lead his team to the slim come-from-behind victory. Crazy stat of the night? All five of Pouliot's NHL goals thus far in his career have been game-winners.
Next up for the Oilers on their final road trip of the season will be the last Battle of Alberta of 2017-18 on Saturday night at the Saddledome. Edmonton had won seven consecutive games against Calgary until the Flames posted a 1-0 decision at Rogers Place in the last meeting between the provincial rivals on March 13.
