WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers host the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place on Saturday. Puck drop is at 1:00 PM MDT and can be seen and heard live on EdmontonOilers.com and 630CHED.
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog
The Coyotes, led by sophmore sensation Clayton Keller - who had one goal and one assist in 17:25 TOI - outshot the Oilers 29-24.
"They're a really good team," McDavid said post-game. "They did a lot of good things, they played hard and didn't give up much. They came out hard but I thought we did a good job of staying in it. Mikko made some big saves and kept us in it."
Koskinen's 27 saves were the highest since joining the club and earned him the night's third star.
"I thought that was his best game. His first home game here was very good," explained head coach Todd McLellan. "He made some big saves. When we made some errors, he used his size and strength to his advantage."
Milan Lucic had the game's first scoring opportunity in the opening minutes. Leon Draisaitl's heads-up play in the slot allowed a streaking Lucic to get a quality shot that was denied by the shoulder of Antti Raanta.
Just over a minute later, Clayton Keller - who is coming off a strong rookie campaign which saw him amass 65 points (23G, 42A) - found open ice and squeaked one under the arm of Koskinen. The goal - assisted by Alex Goligoski and Brendan Perlini - was scored on Arizona's third shot of the game.
Oilers fans held their collective breath for a brief moment when Rattie blocked a shot off the shin and limped to the Oilers bench halfway through the first. The NHL's pre-season leading scorer wouldn't miss a shift and stayed in the game.
Shortly after the Oilers first opportunity on the man-advantage, McDavid flew down the right wing, getting a sneaky shot off mid-stride before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' rebound was turned aside by the right pad of Raanta. Raanta was sharp early, turning aside eight shots in the opening 20 minutes.
After surrendering the first four shots of the period, captain Connor McDavid made his mark in the second. Sprung on a 2-on-1 with Rattie, McDavid - who came into Oilers Main Camp with a conscious decision to shoot the puck more - outwaited Raanta went five-hole to tie the game. The unassisted marker was McDavid's second goal and eighth point of the pre-season.
"Connor's presenting himself to the group as ready to go. He's trying to do things rights and not cut corners or cheat," said McLellan after the victory. "It's impressive at this point. His game is always elite and he's getting rewarded offensively and defensively."
Arizona capitalized on their first power-play opportunity midway through the second period with a perfect shot by Christian Fischer - his first goal of the preseason. Keller picked up his sixth point (1G, 5A) of the exhibition season with an assist while defenceman Alex Goligoski dished his second assist of the night.
The Oilers pressed late in the middle frame and almost had the equalizer in the dying minutes of the period. Ethan Bear caught iron as the puck stayed out behind a scrambling Raanta.
"I thought (Bear) and Garrison had a real good night again," said McLellan post-game. "Ethan's done a lot of good things, he's met our expectations and we'll have to make some decisions (on the backend) moving forward."
