LDN - Sports

Oilers sweep season series with Jets

[December 12, 2016] EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers gave themselves a little breathing room in the Western Conference playoff race Sunday by posting a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

With a little help from the Jets.

With the score tied 2-2 midway through the third period, Winnipeg rookie Patrik Laine inadvertently rifled the winning goal into his own net for the most painful goal of his young NHL career.

"Fortunate bounce for us," said Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. "We'll take it and run with it. No matter how you can get the winner it's nice to get it done because these points are huge.

"It's a tight race right now. We've put ourselves in the (division) lead and we have to keep it rolling."

Laine was trying to clear the rebound after Mark Letestu put a shot off goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and ended up burying one in the far corner. With authority.

"I'm just trying to get a rebound out there, hoping for Connor (McDavid) or (Milan) Lucic to bang it in," said Letestu, who also scored the tying goal 2:28 into the third period and has scored five of his six goals this season against Winnipeg. "Pretty fortunate for us that it goes in the way it does."

Laine still isn't sure what happened exactly.

"That's a good question," said the dejected winger. "I kind of tried to get rid of the puck right away. It was just a bad position for me. An unfortunate goal."

His teammates immediately consoled him on the bench and weren't going to hang the loss on him at all.

"He's 18 years old, he feels terrible," said teammate Blake Wheeler. "These things happen I've done it many times -- it's just a bad bounce.

"But he's done a helluva job for us this year. He's a top five scorer in the NHL as an 18-year-old. He did a great job being back in defensive position just trying to clear the front of the net and he puts it in the net."

The Jets were anxious to get back at it after losing 6-2 the night before in Calgary while the Oilers wanted to turn themselves in the right direction after losing three straight games on the road.

Only Edmonton got what it needed out of 60 tough minutes.

"We didn't do much to earn breaks in the first two periods," said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. "Our team was lethargic tonight. It wasn't a really good game. Fortunately, we came back and found a way to win. We'll put it in the bank and move on."

Winnipeg got the start it wanted by opening the scoring at 14:50 of the first period on an easy tap in for center Mathieu Perrault after linemate Bryan Little hit the post from close range. Perrault's second of the season came 17 games after his first and gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

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Oilers /2 and Winnipeg Jets defensemen Jacob Trouba (8) battle for a loose puck during the second period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets have been terrible in the second period this year (outscored 43-20) and it didn't take long for the Oilers to jump on them. Oscar Klefbom snapped a Tyler Pitlick rebound home to tie it 1-1 at 1:53.

The Jets fought back, though, literally. Not long after getting out of the penalty box for a fight with Zack Kassian, Winnipeg's Chris Thorburn scored on a one-timer to restore the one-goal lead.

Minutes after that, Kassian scored on a breakaway himself to square it up again ... but a video review wiped it out because of an off-side call.

Despite being 9-0 when leading after two periods, the Jets let this one get away from them and are now six points back of the Oilers.

It's a tough one to take, but they all have Laine's back.

"I didn't say anything to him," said head coach Paul Maurice. "The right guys on the bench said something to him. Every guy in the National Hockey League's got a goal like that, every defensemen has had one go in off him. So now he has a story to tell."

The Jets have put two winning goals into their own net this year. Nik Ehlers scored on his own goal in overtime against Colorado in November.

NOTES: The Jets played their first 32 games of the season in 60 days, a record for that franchise. ... The Oilers have also been in an early-season grind, playing 18 games in 32 days. ... Both teams were playing their sixth games in nine days. ... Sunday's game featured four of the top 16 point-getters in the NHL, with Connor McDavid (1st) and Leon Draisaitl (15th) for Edmonton and Mark Scheifele (10th) and Patrik Laine (16th) for Winnipeg. ... The Jets had to kill 109 penalties in their first 31 games, tied for the highest total in the league. ... The Jets have been outscored 44-21 in the second period this year. ... The Oilers sat out their oldest and youngest players for this game -- 35-year-old RW Matt Hendricks and 18-year-old RW Jesse Puljujarvi, who was out of the lineup for the fifth time in seven games.

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