GAME RECAP: Lightning 2, Oilers 1 (OT)

TAMPA, FL – The Lightning struck twice in heart-stopping fashion.

Calvin Pickard held it down terrifically for the Edmonton Oilers with 33 saves, but the Tampa Bay Lightning spoiled his shutout bid with 2:32 remaining in regulation through Nick Paul before Jake Guentzel stole the victory during a wild sequence in overtime for a 2-1 victory at Benchmark International Arena.

The Oilers suffered their third straight defeat and fifth overtime loss of the season after battling heroically for the full 60 minutes plus overtime in the second of a back-to-back, but they were unable to hold off the Lightning late in regulation before the hosts stole the extra point on a dramatic end-to-end finish.

"I really liked how we played," Pickard said post-game. "It's not the easiest back-to-back coming from Washington, but I feel like we do things the hard way. We like to do it the hard way. Right from the get-go, we had a good game. But obviously, in the third, they kind of took it to us. They're a great team as well."

"They had some good looks, but a very unfortunate result."

Forward Trent Frederic scored Edmonton's lone goal, ending a stretch of 20 games without scoring only 1:32 into the first period for a 1-0 lead that the Oilers protected all the way until the final three minutes of regulation, when Nick Paul forced the game to overtime with a short-side finish into the top shelf.

During overtime, Darnell Nurse had a shot on a two-on-one that produced a rebound that sat dangerously in the crease for Zach Hyman, who missed the follow-up before Jack Roslovic was denied his third OT winner of the season by an incredible toe save from Andrei Vasilevskiy that sent Tampa the other way.

At the end of the ensuing odd-man rush up ice, Guentzel went five-hole on Pickard off the feed from Darren Raddysh for his 12th goal of the season to give the Lightning a shock 2-1 victory, handing the Oilers their third straight defeat in heartbreaking fashion.

"I think everyone wanted to get the win for Picks," Frederic said. "He played great tonight. He deserved probably better than what the outcome was, but he played great and hopefully can carry that along."

The Oilers now head to Sunrise for a rematch of the 2024 & 2025 Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday against the defending champion Florida Panthers to close out their lengthy seven-game road trip.

QUICKER THAN THE LIGHTNING

Turns out, it was the Oilers who were 'electric' to start this one.

Playing the second of back-to-back games on Thursday, the Oilers wasted no time taking it to the Lightning with an impressive opening 20 minutes that saw them start the fastest and take an early 1-0 lead only 1:31 after the opening faceoff, seeing forward Trent Frederic score his first goal since the third game of the regular season to end a stretch of 20 games without finding the back of the net.

The Oilers attacked off the rush early through Leon Draisaitl, who dumped into the opposite corner as his teammates changed before Norwegian defenceman Emil Lilleberg tried to force it up the wall, where the German was able to intercept the puck as Frederic was entering the Lightning zone.

Draisaitl sauced a slow backhand pass into the slot for the oncoming Frederic, who quickly dispatched a one-timer that beat netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy emphatically before the Russian could raise his glove to meet the American's wicked release that nestled into the top corner for his second goal of the year.

"I was fortunate to get that goal early," Frederic said. "That always helps the confidence. But I think physically and skating-wise, my last couple of games might have been better, honestly. I was just fortunate tonight to get the goal."

Frederic's tally was his first goal since scoring the game-winner at Madison Square Garden back on Oct. 14 in a 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers, while Draisaitl's assist extended his point streak to five games and marked his 570th career helper to move him past Jari Kurri for the fourth most in Oilers history.

The Oilers were keen to attack an inexperienced Tampa blueline that was missing three of its most veteran players in Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Eric Cernak, taking an 18-5 in shot attempts in the opening nine minutes and drawing the first power play early on a slashing penalty to Jake Guentzel that the Lightning killed off with their fourth-ranked penalty kill.

A hard hit delivered by the 6-foot-9 forward Curtis Douglas on Jake Walman along the wall near the seven-minute mark staggered the Oilers defenceman, who went down before heading back to the bench, seemingly favouring his lower right leg, but he would be fine to stay in the game.

But Darnell Nurse wasn't about to let it slide, challenging the big centre to a scrap during the break in play before drawing a two-minute minor for instigating, a five-minute major for fighting and a 10-misconduct, putting the Oilers on the kill and keeping Nurse from returning until midway through the second period.

Goaltender Calvin Pickard made eight saves for the Oilers in the opening frame, stopping Brayden Point point-blank before the end of the frame as the Oilers protected their 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission, looking to win their first in regulation in Tampa after failing to win on their last 12 visits (0-11-1).

The Oilers looked connected at both ends, but little did they know, they were about to bunker down defensively for the final 40 minutes.

"We played well defensively," Frederic said. "Picks made big saves when we needed him to. Especially in the first period, we were playing quickly in the D zone and moving the puck up quickly. It seems like we were really connected. And when that happens, you feel like you're playing faster."

PICKARD NEUTRALIZES THE LIGHTNING IN THE SECOND

Shots were 11-7 for the Lightning during the middle frame, but the play of Calvin Pickard, their defence and two contributions from their penalty kill had the Oilers sitting in a good spot through 40 minutes to win their first game in Tampa since Dec. 9, 2009.

A late Alec Regula slashing call against Jake Guentzel as time expired in the first period lulled the Oilers a bit to begin the next frame, needing a stop while down a man coming out of the intermission before getting their first shot of the period six minutes in after thoroughly outbattling the Lightning in the first.

But the Oilers continued to battle – mainly through their netminder Pickard, who had a strong period by making 11 saves and doing what he needed to do in the crease to get in front of some tricky scoring opportunities for the Lightning to preserve his team's lead at 1-0 through 40 minutes.

The 33-year-old goalie was looking to claim his first-ever win over the Lightning in four career starts against them.

"It was good," Pickard said of his performance. "It goes hand in hand. My back's always against the wall. I needed to have a good game here tonight, and I did. It's just an unfortunate result. But my teammates really made it easier on me, by playing good defence, and that makes my job easier."

PICKARD BEATEN BY A HEARTBREAKER

'The Governor' did all he could, but the one shot that beat him in the third period sent us to overtime.

The desire of the Lightning to come out with a better effort in the final frame was apparent right from the opening shift, where if it weren't for a game-defining save from Pickard diving across to take away an open net for Brandon Hagel 20 seconds after the faceoff at centre ice, it would've been tied quickly.

Pickard made one of the best saves of his career, throwing himself across the crease with Mattias Ekholm laying out to try to help him and making a miraculous stop on Hagel's wide-open net opportunity by getting a piece of it with his glove and stick to turn aside what looked like a surefire equalizer.

"Ever since I got here, I've been game by game, and it's the hardest league in the world to get into, and it's even harder to stay in," Pickard said. "So, a really good game for me tonight, and I need to build off that. I need to keep throwing that game out there."

Before a crazy start to the frame in its first minute was over, there was concern from both teams for Oilers defenceman Alec Regula, who took a high shot straight off the side of his head before he fell straight to the ice and prompting a quick whistle from the officials to check on him.

Luckily, Regula would be okay after heading to the dressing room before returning to the bench after only a few minutes.

But the Oilers were on their heels for almost the entirety of the third period, with the Lightning outshooting them 8-2 in the frame with 10 minutes left and 26-11 over the final 40 minutes of the contest after Edmonton held the advantage 11-7 on Tampa following the first period.

Despite that, Pickard thought his teammates did a fantastic job limiting the quality of Tampa's chances and praised their efforts post-game.

"I feel like it's probably the most shots I've had all year, but probably the least amount of big chances that we gave up," he said. "So it was really good. We were staying tight, good in the middle, the penalty kill was good, and we had good sticks. They let me see the pucks, and we kept the goals against down."

Pickard made another terrific point-blank save on Guentzel as he tried to preserve his shutout to give the Oilers a much-needed victory in a building they haven't had a lot of luck in as a franchise, but they'd have to duke it out in overtime for the extra one after Nick Paul broke the clean sheet with 2:32 left.

With the Lightning attacking in waves as the Oilers just tried to throw the puck out of their zone, allowing Tampa to regroup on repeat, Paul protected the puck against McDavid on one of those rushes before cutting to his forehand and roofing his effort to force overtime by making it 1-1 in the last three minutes.

"There are a lot of things to be happy about," Knoblauch said. "We've been talking about how to play better defensively, better awareness, and just digging in on those areas. I saw a lot of good defensive plays tonight, and obviously, Pickard had a heck of a game -- especially in the third period.

"But you can see a fragile group in the third period. We were a shell of ourselves, not wanting to make a mistake and holding on. When you hold on, you just have to defend over and over again. Unfortunately, they scored that tying goal, and it was too bad because it was a good effort from a lot of guys.

CRAZY POWER CHANGE

It went from heaven in regulation, to heartbreak in overtime for the Oilers after a wild sequence decided the Lightning as winners.

The Oilers had a two-on-one between Darnell Nurse and Zach Hyman in overtime to try and decide the extra point after Nurse let fly a hard shot from the left side that was stopped by Vasilevskiy before the rebound fell dangerously into the crease, where Zach Hyman missed his chance as Jack Roslovic came in.

With the puck sitting there for the taking, and Roslovic having been Edmonton's OT winner on three occasions already this season – including back-to-back wins earlier in this road trip – all it needed was a straightforward finish from No. 28 in Blue & Orange.

But miraculously, the Russian netminder managed to get his left toe off the ice to turn aside Roslovic's shot to send the Lightning back up the ice on an odd-man rush of their own with the puck on Nikita Kucherov's stick.

After Kucherov moved it across to Darren Raddych, the forward sifted it through to Guentzel, who outraced Roslovic up the ice before firing the game-winner five-hole on Pickard to steal the extra point and a dramatic victory for the hosts.

It was a tough way to lose, but Coach Knoblauch said post-game that it was a defensive effort they can carry forward – starting on Saturday against Florida.

"Just playing with that intensity and that attention to detail, because any team that wins consistently has to be a good defensive team," he said. "Yes, you've got to be able to score goals. But the most important thing is just keeping the puck out of your net, and feel that if we can play good, solid defensive hockey, that we'll get our opportunities and we'll score enough goals that we should win most nights."