Oilers edge Red Wings 2-1

Alex Chiasson #39, James Neal #18 and Darnell Nurse #25 of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate after a goal during the game against the Detroit Red Wings on October 18, 2019, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

A hard fight to get a victory came up short for the Red Wings at Rogers Place Friday night. Their efforts kept the Edmonton Oilers quiet on the scoresheet but tallied out a 2-1 victory with James Neal and Darnell Nurse putting in work. Goaltender Mikko Koskinen recorded the fourth win of his career with 23 saves and a .962 save percentage.

Two losses for the Red Wings with mirrored results had them eager to end the losing streak and finish their run on the road with a victory. Coming against the Oilers with a 6-1-0 record meant that the possibility of going 0-3 was high. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were on fire recording more than 15 points each becoming the first to reach the milestone since Wayne Gretzky. With so much firepower supporting the two, the Red Wings had to find ways to stop them or face an uphill battle.

Detroit managed to stay close with Edmonton, but a power play for the home team almost had them a goal. Neal who already had eight goals this season, watched his shot go off the post. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier and the Detroit special teams killed the penalty but trailed the Oilers who continued to bring pucks to the net. The Red Wings fought to clear the puck to stay on pace with Edmonton who had nine shots on goal with eight minutes left in the period.

Dylan Larkin knew that his leadership skills had to shine. On a two-man play, he got ahead of the puck to shoot at Koskinen playing between the pipes in his fourth NHL game. Despite not getting one behind the Finn, Detroit's push to increase puck possession was a positive development with five minutes to go.

Andreas Athanasiou got a jump on a loose puck with 90 seconds left. Despite his missed scoring chance, a slashing call to Russel gave them a 5 on 4 power play to end the period. While it didn’t help the Red Wings to change the score, they did show interest to be the first to strike going into the second stanza.

The remainder of Detroit’s power play didn’t give them an early lead but played evenly with the Oilers. Bernier made stops with strong support in front of him through eight and a half minutes. At 7:39, Edmonton scored on a drive from Nurse that bounced off the pad of Bernier. The rebound came to Neal who shot it right back, scoring his ninth and gave Edmonton the opening lead.

Preventing a second proved difficult as the Oilers moved freely on ice in Detroit’s end. A straight shot from Ethan Bear at the far end along with terrific screening by Zach Kassian made it 2-0. Detroit suffered another penalty opening the door for Edmonton to notch another one. Blocked shots and a huge effort to clear the puck out of danger killed the power play leaving Edmonton 0-2 on the man advantage.

Detroit earned an important reward with Mike Green’s shot from the slot. The puck redirected off former Red Wings player Riley Sheahan making it 2-1 with three minutes to play. Bertuzzi earned an assist giving him eight points this season. Green went for another shot to try and tie the game in the final minute but Koskinen made the block from the glove side. After 40 minutes, Edmonton outshot Detroit 15-6 but was denied an influx of goals to take a commanding lead.

Through 10 minutes of play in the third period, the Oilers outshot the Red Wings but couldn’t get anything by their opponent’s strong coverage. Detroit pressured them for two minutes taking all the steam out of their line. A TV timeout allowed them to switch out and defend their one-goal margin with seven minutes left in regulation. The Red Wings worked hard to get the tying goal in the final two minutes. With Bernier out of the net, Detroit went for six men bringing the heat to Koskinen. He stayed firm with good kick saves and focus from his support staff.

The Red Wings took a timeout for coach Jeff Blashill to come up with a play with 104 seconds to go. A faceoff in the Edmonton zone didn’t work out as the Oilers defense pushed them out and went for the empty net but missed twice on shots off the post. Despite not getting the definitive game-winner the Oilers managed to hold on in the final seconds to win their second straight.