GAME STORY: Oilers 2, Ducks 1 (SO)

EDMONTON, AB -Duck, duck, Nuge.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the shootout winner as the Oilers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 Thursday at Rogers Place, snapping their four-game losing streak.
Edmonton improves to 18-20-3 on the season and 6-2-0 against the Pacific Division.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
View Photo Gallery
Box Score
Look back at the In-Game Blog

POST-GAME VIDEO
Full Highlights
OILERS TODAY | vs. Ducks Post-Game
POST-GAME RAW | Cammalleri
POST-GAME RAW | Russell
POST-GAME RAW | Talbot
POST-GAME RAW | Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan
THE OTHER SIDE | Ducks Post-Game

WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers visit the Dallas Stars on Saturday. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 1:08 p.m. MST.
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog
Michael Cammalleri and Rickard Rakell also scored in the shootout, while Jakob Silfverberg missed on his opportunity to extend it.
Kris Russell scored the lone goal for the Oil with his third of the season and 16th point.
Edmonton went 0-for-5 on the power play and killed one of their two penalties. Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan, despite finishing the game 50 percent on the penalty kill, was happy with his club's effort.
"I thought our penalty kill was exceptional," he said. "They got a seeing-eye one in from the blueline but we did a lot of the things we worked on in practice. That was a step, definitely in the right direction."
He also remarked on the power play, which didn't score but was dangerous.
"We created numerous chances that just aren't finding the back of the net," said McLellan.
Cam Talbot made 33 saves and ended the night with a .971 save percentage.
"We were able to keep a pretty good team to one goal," said McLellan. "Some of the small things that we worked on in practice showed up in the game and I thought the commitment level was high enough to win a National Hockey League game defensively."
The Oilers came out against the Ducks determined to get back on the right track.
The club out-played their opposition in almost every facet of the game in the opening period, limiting Anaheim to only two shots on goal while mustering 13 themselves.
"You don't hold a team like that to two shots if you're not committed to playing in your own end," said Talbot, now 15-13-2 on the campaign with a .903 save percentage. "We didn't give them a whole lot tonight and that's a big confidence boost."
The home squad also dominated the dot in the first period, winning 71 percent of the faceoffs.
Scoring opportunities stemmed from a Milan Lucic power-play power move at the side of the net, as well as after Anton Slepyshev helped cause a turnover to take the puck in alone on netminder John Gibson.
The Ducks pushed back in the middle period but Edmonton opened the scoring.
The Oilers had a few cracks at Gibson to open the second, including Cammalleri's in-close attempt that was stopped and a Connor McDavid breakaway, that again, Gibson thwarted. The Oilers eventually broke the Ducks keeper after breaking out on a 3-on-1.

McDavid handled the puck as he crossed the Ducks' zone with Jesse Puljujarvi and Kris Russell in-flight. The Oilers Captain made a lateral pass to Russell who one-timed it under Gibson. The goal was Russell's third of the season while McDavid picked up his 46th point with the assist. Lucic registered the secondary helper.
"It looked like it was a 4-on-1," said Russell post-game. "I thought it was a great pass by Connor... I just got it hard on net and it went in."
The Ducks evened the game up 18 seconds into the third while on a power play that carried over from the second frame. Cam Fowler ripped a slap shot from the edge of the blueline and Ryan Kesler was in front of Talbot to deflect it past the Oilers goaltender.
Late in the third, the Oilers got close to striking. Cammalleri dished the puck to Nugent-Hopkins as he was skating to the net. The centre got a piece of Cammalleri's pass but Gibson made the save. Later in the sequence while Gibson was down and out, Russell got a shot off that was stopped by Ryan Getzlaf. The Ducks' captain shared the twine with Gibson after he crashed into the goal trying to help defend against Nugent-Hopkins' previous deflection.

McDavid was high-sticked as the third period was dying, giving the Oilers a power play to open overtime. The captain hit the crossbar while on the man-advantage but the Ducks managed to kill the penalty and one other late in the extra frame.
"It's frustrating as players because we're trying to produce, we're trying to play and you end up getting three or four power plays in the last five minutes of the game," said Getzlaf.
The two clubs proceeded to the shootout, where Cammalleri and Nugent-Hopkins scored to lift the Oilers to a 2-1 shootout victory.
Russell, like McLellan, agreed the Oilers played well defensively.
"It looked a lot like our team last year," said the defenceman. "We were quick in the D zone, quick to pucks, quick to retrieve, we were communicating and when we made a mistake there was a guy to help out. Those are good signs and we need to continue that on this road trip."
The Oilers embark on a five-game road trip, beginning Saturday in Dallas against the Stars. Puck drop is at 1:08 p.m. MST.