McDavid scores twice, Koskinen makes 30 saves to lift Oilers past Lightning
Edmonton captain recorded his 30th multi-point game of the season with two goals
Connor McDavid scored twice and Mikko Koskinen stopped 30 shots as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 Saturday night.
"Tonight was a total team win, contributions up and down the lineup," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "In the two games as a whole against Tampa we gave up 55 shots against the Stanley Cup champions. We did a good job defensively in both games."
Zach Bogosian scored for the two-time defending champion Lightning, who have lost three in a row for the first time this season. Brian Elliott finished with 45 saves.
"When things aren't going well for you, you invent ways to shoot yourself in the foot," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Whether it's turnovers, taking too many penalties, we're finding ways on this road trip to make it hard on ourselves. If you're going to take that many penalties and you're going to put some of the best players in the world on the ice all night, it's going to be tough for you."
WATCH | McDavid scores twice against defending Stanley Cup champions:
Edmonton managed to get a rare first goal of the game midway through the first period when McDavid stripped a puck and danced around Victor Hedman at full speed before tucking it past Elliott. The Oilers improved to 18-0-0 when scoring first.
The Oilers came close to extending their lead seven minutes into the second, but Warren Foegele rang a shot off the crossbar — the second time in the game Edmonton hit a crossbar.
They made it 2-0 with 44 seconds left in the middle period as McDavid picked the top corner for his 32nd of the season, also taking the league lead for points with 83.
The Lightning finally got on the board midway through the third as Bogosian was left alone in the slot and sent his third of the season over Koskinen's shoulder.
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After killing off a lengthy 5-on-3 Tampa power play, the Oilers regained their two-goal lead three minutes later as Draisaitl had a long breakaway before depositing his 39th of the campaign through Elliott's legs.
Yamamoto added an empty netter to put the game away for Edmonton.
