Oilers slip past Ducks in OT

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[November 12, 2015]  ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Edmonton Oilers' confidence keeps growing, while the Anaheim Ducks' frustration is mounting.

Right winger Teddy Purcell scored in overtime to give the Oilers a 4-3 win over the Ducks on Wednesday night in front of 16,505 at the Honda Center.

Edmonton (6-10-0) lost six of its previous eight games, but the Oilers rallied from deficits three times to beat Anaheim (5-7-4).

"We're proud of the fact that we can come back and win," Oilers left winger Taylor Hall said. "In years past, we got down, and then that's it. We're not a finished product by any means, but we're starting to trust each other and believe in what we're doing."

Despite right winger Corey Perry's 300th career goal, the Ducks sustained their second consecutive loss after winning four in succession. Both defeats came in overtime after Anaheim built leads in the first period.

"In regulation, we outplayed them pretty good, but they were resilient," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said about the Oilers. "We should know how to defend the lead. We still have too many turnovers, especially in the second period."

Edmonton goalie Anders Nilsson began the scoring sequence by passing the puck with his glove to defenseman Andrej Sekera, who found Purcell at the right-wing boards at center ice and freed him for a breakaway.

"Their goalie made a great play to move the puck," Perry said. "He caught us tired on a line change, and they capitalized."

Purcell faked to his backhand and deposited the puck inside the left post past goalie Frederik Andersen for his third goal of the season.

"I just kind of went on instinct," Purcell said. "I knew the forward was chasing me from behind. I have a long reach, so I just tried to get it over there. I saw Perry score like that in the third period, so he's probably a good guy to learn some tips from."

Anaheim center Shawn Horcoff broke a 1-1 tie at 1:56 of the third period by poking defenseman Cam Fowler's pass from behind the net off the left post for his second goal of the season and 500th career point. Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom responded with a slap shot from the blue line to tie the score at 5:38.

Just over a minute later, Perry scored his second goal of the game to put the Ducks ahead 3-2. Perry used a backhand to convert left winger Rickard Rakell's pass from the left corner at 6:44 for his 300th career goal, tying Paul Kariya for second place on the Ducks' all-time list.

"It's a huge accomplishment," Perry said, "especially in the best league in the world."

Perry, who failed to score in the season's first 11 games, has four goals in his past five games.

At 8:19, Edmonton tied the score for the third time. Center Leon Draisaitl dug out the puck from the boards behind the net and passed to center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who converted a wrist shot at the left post for his sixth goal.

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"We're not going to run a team like Anaheim out of the building," Hall said, "but we can play faster than them and try to use that to our advantage."

Perry gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 10:09 of the first period. Stationed at the left post, Perry received Rakell's pass from the left boards and took a behind-the-back shot that deflected off the right skate of Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and to Nilsson's left.

Edmonton tied the score at 4:23 of the second period. With six seconds left on a power play, Draisaitl received left winger Benoit Pouliot's pass from the left-wing boards and one-timed a shot from the right circle over Andersen's left leg pad.

The visitors had a chance to exploit a turnover and move ahead in the middle of the second period. Draisaitl intercepted a pass at Edmonton's blue line and freed Hall for a breakaway. However, Hall shot the puck over the crossbar.

Andersen then made two quick saves with about 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the second period, first on right winger Jordan Eberle's shot from the left wing, then on Hall's point-blank backhanded attempt to convert the rebound.

Nilsson kept the score tied when Anaheim tried to score a short-handed goal with about two minutes left in the middle period. Nilsson stopped defenseman Josh Manson on a breakaway, with Manson trying to tuck the puck under Nilsson's right leg pad.

Nilsson finished with 34 saves. Andersen stopped 23 shots.



NOTES: The Ducks had won four in a row and eight of their past 10 games against Edmonton. Before Wednesday night's victory, the Oilers last won in Anaheim on April 1, 2012. ... Edmonton scratched D Brandon Davidson, D Matt Hendricks and D Andrew Ference. Hendricks has missed nine of the past 11 games because of an injured foot. ... Oilers RW Teddy Purcell needs one more game to reach 500 for his career. ... Anaheim scratched LW Max Friberg and D Korbinian Holzer. ... The Ducks wore camouflage jerseys during pregame warmups in honor of Veterans Day.

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