The Oilers arrived on a three-game win streak and left with a 4-3 shootout loss, their first road defeat of the season (7-0-1), an 11-2-3 record and points in 14 of 16 games. The Devils improved to 10-5-0 and had won five of their past six, with Jack Hughes scoring twice and adding an assist.
Evan Bouchard opened the scoring at 8:29 of the first, taking Mattias Ekholm’s cross-ice pass and beating Connor Hellebuyck with a slap shot. Former Oiler Connor Brown tied it 1-1 at 7:42 of the second on the power play, chipping in the rebound after his own redirect of a Hughes shot, ending Tristan Jarry’s shutout streak at 153:59.
Jack Hughes made it 2-1 at 14:50, one-timing Dougie Hamilton’s backhand feed from the right circle, then scored again 45 seconds later on the power play after Jake Walman’s elbowing minor. Nugent-Hopkins pulled one back at 18:16 when his wrist shot from the top of the left circle deflected in off Brown’s stick. Leon Draisaitl tied it 3-3 at 1:00 of the third on a 5-on-3 carryover when he one-timed Kasperi Kapanen’s feed from the right circle.
Connor McDavid scored in the shootout, Jesper Bratt answered, Arseny Gritsyuk beat Jarry in round four and Hellebuyck stopped Kapanen to end it.
3 most disappointing Oilers players from 4-3 S/O loss to Devils
#3. Ryan Shea
Shea lost the battle with Brown at the left post on the 1-1 power-play goal, then could not get a stick in front of Hughes’ one-timer that made it 2-1, the only even-strength goal the Oilers allowed. He lost Meier on a third-period power-play slot chance Jarry had to stop.
#2. Connor Murphy
Murphy’s holding minor on Nico Hischier at 7:34 of the second handed the Devils the power play Brown tied it on eight seconds later. He finished minus-1 and turned the puck over 35 seconds into the first period, one of the Oilers’ 15 giveaways on the night.
#1. Jake Walman
Walman’s elbowing minor on Cody Glass at 15:00 of the second put the Devils on the power play, and Hughes scored 35 seconds later for 3-1. He was back in the lineup after sitting out for failing to follow Babcock’s game plan, and he carried a minus-7 rating through nine games into the night. On a seven-year deal worth $7 million a season, that cannot continue.
Edited by Srihari Anand
