Oilers overcome slow start to top Coyotes

[February 15, 2017]  EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers took a while to get going, but once they did there was no stopping them in a 5-2 home ice victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Leon Draisaitl, Matt Hendricks, Mark Letestu, Oscar Klefbom and Patrick Maroon scored for the Oilers, who were outplayed badly in the first period by the 29th place team in the NHL.

"We knew we could play some good hockey," said defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who had a goal and two assists as the Oilers snapped a three-game losing streak at home. "It was nice to get back in the win column again. We want to show all the other teams we can play really good hockey here, especially with all the home games we have in March."

The win was Edmonton's second in the last six games as they seek to regain some of the momentum they'd lost after having the All-Star and CBA breaks less than two weeks apart. The five goals are also one more than they scored in their previous five games

"It was nice to see guys get rewarded because it was a difficult stretch here, we were getting one or none a night... watching video that wasn't always flattering," said Letestu. "To get five against a team that is pretty tight and has been playing good hockey, it's nice to feel good about yourself going into tomorrow.

"We scored on the power play, scored a couple around the net and scored on an odd-man rush. Those are the things we've been talking about the last couple of days, bearing down on opportunities."

They had to work for it, though.

The Coyotes rolled into Edmonton 6-2-1 in their previous nine games after a 5-0 win in Calgary Monday night and wasted no time jumping on the Oilers.

Josh Jooris battled hard for position in front of the Oilers net and it paid off with his third goal of the season at 10:44. The Coyotes should have come out of the first period with more than just a 1-0 lead, but Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot robbed them on a couple of great scoring chances to keep Edmonton close.

"Our first 20 wasn't really great, wasn't really polished, and we came into the dressing room down by a goal," said Hendricks. "But we talked about it and said we just had to loosen up a little bit, play our game. We know that we have the ability to play with anybody in this league. We just had to get momentum back on our side and start rolling."

Which they did.

The Oilers came back hard in the second, starting when Leon Draisaitl scored on a second effort seconds into a man advantage at 2:51.

Just 31 seconds after that, Matt Hendricks jammed in a loose puck from the Arizona doorstep and the Oilers had their first lead of the game.

Not for long, though.

Just 11 seconds later Martin Hanzal scored his fourth goal in the last three games to tie it back up at 2-2.

Oilers forward Matt Hendricks (23) scores a goal against Arizona Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue (35) during the second period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

The Oilers took the lead back before the second intermission when Mark Letestu scored on a five-on-three power play at 10:24.

"We took some tough penalties and from there it kind of slipped away from us," said Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski. "We had a good first and couldn't follow it up.

They got a little momentum on their power play and we gave them some big changes off the rush."

Maroon and Klefbom put it out of reach in the third.

"We took penalties and our puck play was just red-rotten," said Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. "We chased the rest of the game. They capitalized on their power play; we didn't capitalize on the 5-on-3 we had and we chased it the rest of the way.

"You make mistakes like that, especially on the back end of a back-to-back, you're not going to fare very well. We were really solid in the first period but had some crucial mistakes and wrong times and that cost us the game."

NOTES: Oilers LW Iiro Pakarinen made his 2016-17 debut after dislocating his knee cap in the pre-season. He picked up a second period assist. ... Oilers LW Benoit Pouliot, who has just 10 points in 51 games and hasn't scored a goal in 26 games, missed Tuesday's game after slamming into the boards during a skating drill Sunday at practice... Coyotes RW Josh Jooris's goal in the first period made him the 17th different Coyote to score during their last 10 games. ... The Coyotes started G Louis Domingue against the Oilers rather than play Mike Smith in back to back games. ... Coyotes LW Lawson Crouse suffered a lower body injury Saturday and didn't accompany the Coyotes on their road trip. ... The Oilers split up C Connor McDavid and RW Leon Draisaitl, breaking up their most productive line in the hope it will result in a more balanced offence. Draisaitl had three points... Oilers D Darnell Nurse is practicing with the team again, eight weeks after surgery to repair an ankle, and is expected back in the lineup within a week or so.

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.