GAME RECAP: Lightning 5, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, AB – Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning to overtake Connor McDavid in the NHL's scoring race and power the visitors to a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at Rogers Place.

"He's playing great, obviously playing on a great team with a lot of great players over there," McDavid said. "They got a great system. They're perfectly coached.  They all know what they're doing all over the ice. It's impressive. They're a great team."

After McDavid opened the scoring with 23 seconds left in the first period, Kucherov provided the assists on goals for Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel in the middle frame before converting shorthanded later in the period when the Oilers couldn't capitalize on an extended two-man advantage.

Despite Josh Samanski's first career NHL goal on an own goal from the Lightning that made it 3-2 at 12:43 of the third period, Kucherov would tally his second goal and fourth point with under five minutes remaining.

Cirelli added an empty-netter at six-on-four for Tampa's second shorthanded marker.

"We've shown glimpses of it since I've been here, and I know guys have shown that before, so the want and the desire are there," Connor Murphy said. "Just a matter of us getting there, and if we just put in the work, good things will happen."

The loss was Edmonton's second straight to Florida opposition to close their four-game homestand, but they kept hold of second place in the Pacific Division after Vegas, Los Angeles, San Jose and Seattle all lost tonight.

"Obviously, we're fortunate to play in this division," McDavid added. "A lot of teams are fortunate to play in this division.  It's a bit of a pillow fight right now, but thankful to not have lost any ground. That being said, we have to find a way to win some games here on the road.  Two big ones obviously against Utah and Vegas, and we got to make some ground up too.  So a good challenge ahead."

The Oilers will head out on the road looking to pick up valuable points on a two-game trip that begins on Tuesday at Delta Center against the Utah Mammoth.

FIRST PERIOD

Better to strike first late in the first period than never.

Connor McDavid tipped home Evan Bouchard's second attempt at shooting off an offensive zone faceoff with 23 seconds remaining in the opening frame to lift the Oilers into a late 1-0 lead on the Lightning with his 38th goal of the season and give himself the early advantage in a star-studded offensive matchup against Nikita Kucherov.

With a combined 229 points (75G, 154A) in 133 games between them this year, McDavid and Kucherov flashed their talent early as two of the NHL's top three leading scorers on the same shift when McDavid cracked the post on a two-on-one with Hyman before Kucherov's fast one-timer was fought off with a quick pad save from Connor Ingram.

Back with his regular linemates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, McDavid helped generate some good looks early on for his line before leaving it late off an offensive zone draw in the final 30 seconds of the first period to give Edmonton the lead.

McDavid won the faceoff to Bouchard, whose initial attempt was blocked before he reloaded for a wrist shot that got the slightest deflection from the Oilers captain to put it five-hole on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

McDavid has now compiled 16 points in his last 11 games played (3G, 13A) and is both one assist away from collecting 800 in his career and one goal shy of 400 career goals.

SECOND PERIOD

Right on cue, it was Kucherov who powered the Lightning's response with a goal and two assists during an inspired but frustrating middle frame from the Oilers, who fell on the wrong side of the special teams' battle in the second and a 3-1 score after 40 minutes.

After Anthony Cirelli scored early in the frame for the Lightning, Connor Murphy saved a goal for the Oilers with a no-look block in the crease early before stepping up to fight Pontus Holmberg for a sketchy check he delivered into the numbers and the back of Evan Bouchard's head a few minutes earlier along the board in Edmonton's zone.

"I like that," McDavid said of the physicality his team showed tonight. "I thought it was a good response to a bit of a quiet night the other night, so it was a good response emotionally."

While Holmberg's check didn't result in a penalty, Darnell Nurse's high hit on Brandon Hagel past the midway point of the period sent the Oilers blueliner to the box for an illegal check to the head, with Cirelli coming to the defence of Hagel in a one-sided scrap against Vasily Podkolzin for the second fight of the second period.

Hagel stayed in the game for the Lightning, and they got revenge for their teammate by converting the power play through Jake Guentzel for a 2-1 lead with 7:47 left before the intermission, with Kucherov picking up his second assist.

Paired up together on Saturday, Nurse and Murphy did a good job at shutting down the Kucherov line at even strength, with only one of their goals coming at five-on-five.

"It doesn't feel like success when you lose the game," admitted Murphy. "They were still able to score tonight, so I wouldn't say we feel too good about an overall outcome. It's more so just as a pair, we're trying to build consistency in defending.  Me and him take pride in defending hard, and he's a really competitive, intense guy, so we like to feed off each other. We take a lot of pride in that."

The Oilers could've got it right back with 1:40 of five-on-three a few minutes later, where Bouchard cracked the crossbar on their best chance with the extended two-man advantage, but it became a 3-1 deficit when J.J. Moser sprung Kucherov coming out of the box for a breakaway that he finished blocker side on Ingram.

Needing a spark from their power play, the opportunity ended up backfiring.

"That was our opportunity to get back into it," Knoblauch said. "Our power play has been so key. When you look at how many power-play goals we've got this year at key times, tonight was one of those key times that could have really changed the course of the game – not only getting one, but possibly getting two during that power play, but you end up being minus one during that. That's disappointing."

THIRD PERIOD

Tampa's own goal couldn't turn things around or stop the Kucherov onslaught.

It wasn't how Josh Samanski would've drawn up his first career NHL goal, but the German & the Oilers would take it after the puck popped out from a boards battle and managed to bounce right into Tampa's own net despite both Emil Lilleberg and Andrei Vasilevskiy taking swipes at it.

The goal went down as unassisted, with Samanski's first tuck in the League coming in his 14th career game with the Oilers after picking up two assists in his first 14 contests.

But Kucherov was nearly uncheckable on Saturday, causing the Oilers issues all night and picking up his second goal and fourth point with 4:28 left in regulation with a far-side finish from the right circle off the feed from Hagel, who grabbed his second assist.

The Russian forward's goal was his 40th of the season, giving him an incredible 104 points in his last 51 games and 67 points in his last 29 contests.

With Edmonton's net empty, Cirelli iced Tampa's 5-2 victory with 32 seconds left.

"They're very good," McDavid said. "As I said, they're extremely well coached.  They're extremely well organized.  They're very rehearsed in everything that they do.  Very impressive, and when you do break them down, they've got a heck of a goalie to backstop them."