GAME RECAP: Coyotes 3, Oilers 2 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – If the dog days of the Coyotes in the NHL are truly numbered, their last howl in Oil Country was a loud one.

Left-winger Matias Maccelli ended the game in sudden death on Friday night to give the Coyotes a character win over the Oilers in the face of relocation rumours, winning their first head-to-head matchup against Edmonton over their last eight meetings and putting an end to the Blue & Orange's six-game home win streak at Rogers Place with a 3-2 overtime victory.

The Oilers trailed the Coyotes twice and found the tying goals early in the second and third periods from Adam Henrique and Darnell Nurse, but Calvin Pickard would be saddled with the loss despite a strong 24-save performance, including two terrific saves on Nick Schmaltz in overtime before Maccelli found the winner with a glove-side wrist shot 1:35 into the extra period.

"I think we were a little off early on," Evander Kane said. "I thought we got better, especially in that second period, and then obviously we came out and tied it early in the second there and probably would have maybe liked a few more pucks on net, but we had a lot of good looks and just weren't able to find that third goal."

With a single point in the defeat, the Oilers clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Edmonton will finish off back-to-back games at Rogers Place this weekend when they compete for two massive points in the race for the Pacific Division title on Saturday night against the Canucks.

FIRST PERIOD

With home-ice advantage in the first round for the Oilers and their seven-game win streak against the Coyotes on the line, Arizona was looking to play spoiler and put an end to their lengthy winless run versus the Blue & Orange in what could wind up being their last visits to Oil Country as the desert dogs.

"I think we're aware of where everybody is in their season, and they're playing a loose brand of hockey and they got some good skill and when they got in our zone, they had a lot of the perimeter," Kane said. "We generated enough looks to score enough goals, but we didn't do that."

Whether or not the NHL can remain in the desert after reports surfaced that a move to Salt Lake City for the Coyotes next season is a real possibility, the legacy of the franchise will always be heavily tied to the Doan family, and a second-generation Arizona skater in Josh Doan was able to grab an early lead for the visiting team on Friday.

Shane Doan holds the Coyotes' franchise record for goals (402), assists (570), and points (972) along with leading a dozen other offensive categories from his time in the desert from 1996-2017, establishing himself as a club legend after spending a season in Winnipeg in 1996 before their relocation from Winnipeg. His son Josh, a second-round pick of the Coyotes in 2021, could certainly be the next from their lineage to make their name with the franchise after adding another goal to his hot start in the NHL at 14:40 of the opening frame.

Former Oilers prospect Michael Kesselring has certainly found a home in Arizona since being traded from Edmonton in the deal to acquire Nick Bjugstad at last year's trade deadline, and the 24-year-old former Bakersfield Condor started the rush that led to the visitors' opening goal by intercepting a missed pass from Leon Draisaitl in the neutral zone.

The defenceman kicked it to right to Jack McBain for a one-timer that handcuffed Pickard in the Oilers crease, leading to the netminder spilling a rebound into the slot that Doan picked up and delivered into the back of the net for a 1-0 Coyotes lead through 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers did their best to respond to their 1-0 deficit after the first period by outshooting the Coyotes 15-7 in the middle frame, but they continued to be stymied by a galvanized Coyotes team wanting to put a good performance forward in spite of recent rumours of their relocation to Utah.

The Oilers tied things up 1:49 into the period off the second try from Adam Henrique, who hit home his fifth goal in an Oilers uniform through the five-hole of Karel Vejmelka after Evander Kane delivered a puck into the danger area with a backhand from the goal line.

"I thought [that line] played really well. They had some good chances early in the game," Knoblauch said of Kane, Henrique and Foegele. "I believe it was Kane who rattled two goalposts in the same play. He shot one and then it rebounded back to him, and I think the next one went off the crossbar. For them to get our goals tonight, they played really well, so we're happy."

Henrique added: "I think we've been building that chemistry between the three of us and a lot of talk about what we're seeing and feeling on the ice. Tough to give up the one after we scored that first one, but I think we're building that chemistry."

Henrique now has 23 on the season, his highest total since the 2019-20 season with Anaheim, but the second period would end the same way the first frame did, and that was with the Coyotes holding a one-goal lead.

Almost four minutes had gone by since Henrique's tying goal before Logan Cooley batted a puck out of mid-air in front of the Oilers crease that managed to trickle through Pickard's five-hole and inside the right post, restoring Arizona's lead to 2-1 on the centre's 20th goal of the season.

Edmonton's best chance to equalize before the intermission came off a Zach Hyman one-timer with 3:11 left in the frame that was brilliantly set up by Leon Draisaitl, but the Oilers leading scorer put his effort off the left post, leaving Arizona ahead by a goal through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers tied the game in the first two minutes of the period for the second straight frame when Darnell Nurse reached double digits for goals this season on a wrist shot 1:12 into the third.

Warren Foegele banked a puck off the boards and up to the blueline for Nurse, who let fly a wrist shot that managed to elude a lot of traffic between his twig and the twine and nestle his tying goal into the left side of the Arizona net over Vejmelka's left pad.

Nurse's effort made it 2-2 with plenty of period left for someone to find a winner, but a pair of stellar stops from Pickard and Vejmelka late in the contest sent us to overtime.

OVERTIME

Pickard did all he could in sudden death to stave off defeat for the Oilers, but the resolve of the Coyotes proved too great.

The Oilers netminder made two sublime stops on Nick Schmaltz in the extra frame, parrying away a tipped attempt from the forward off a saucer pass from Clayton Keller before going post-to-post to deny his follow-up one-timer moments later, but Maccelli called game for the Coyotes with a pin-point wrister 1:35 into the five-minute period.

"Picks made a lot of good saves early in the game to give us an opportunity early. It could have maybe got out of hand," Knoblauch said. "He kept us in with making some huge saves and then also, in overtime, he made those two back-to-back saves."

The Coyotes' left winger found himself some space between the circles and placed his perfect wrist shot over the glove of Pickard, giving Arizona an important moral victory over the Oilers and putting an end to Edmonton's three-game win streak.