Draisaitl lifts unbeaten Oilers past Devils in shootout
Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl scored the lone goal in the shootout, and Mikko Koskinen stopped all three shots as the Oilers remained undefeated with a 4-3 victory over the winless New Jersey Devils on Thursday night in Newark, N.J.
Draisaitl, the shootout's final shooter, skated in from the right and scored the game winner on a forehand shot off the left post, beating Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Koskinen denied Nikita Gusev, rookie Jack Hughes and Taylor Hall as the Oilers won their first four games for the fourth time in franchise history and first time since 2008-09.
Koskinen stuffed Hall on two breakaway attempts in overtime.
Connor McDavid registered his third goal and seventh assist, and James Neal notched his NHL-best seventh marker. Draisaitl also scored in regulation, and Koskinen stopped 28 of 31 shots.
Kyle Palmieri, Gusev and Damon Severson tallied goals for the Devils, who fell to 0-2-2.
Blackwood, who allowed seven goals to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, rebounded by stopping 19 of 22 shots.
Palmieri tallied his second goal after blocking a shot by Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom. Palmieri then raced up the ice on a two-on-one with Hall, kept the puck and rifled home the unassisted marker at 6:14.
Draisaitl netted a clever chip on the far post past Blackwood following a pass from defenseman Darnell Nurse from the right circle at 9:17 to tie it 1-1.
The goal, Draisaitl's second, was the German left winger's sixth in 10 career games against the Devils.
New Jersey defenseman P.K. Subban left the bench and went to the dressing room after logging just 2:52 of ice time.
However, the 2013 Norris Trophy winner returned for the second period's opening shift.
Jesper Bratt controlled the puck with some tight skating around the right circle before dropping a pass to a trailing Gusev, who blasted home his second marker at 14:12 for the Devils' second lead.
Neal scored four goals Tuesday against the New York Islanders -- becoming the 11th Oilers player to turn the trick -- and tied it 2-2 by tipping in a power play goal with 28 seconds remaining in the period off a hard shot from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The tally was Neal's NHL-leading fifth on the man advantage and gave him a three-game goal-scoring streak.
Severson scored with 4:25 left in regulation, but McDavid shoved in a tying power play goal with 66 seconds left to force overtime.
--Field Level Media
