On Saturday night at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers rallied in the ultimate minute to force additional time and defeat the Washington Capitals 6-5, with center Connor McDavid netting the game-winner just 46 seconds into time beyond regulation.
Evan Bouchard was the standout performer for Edmonton, recording his first profession NHL hat trick and adding three assists in his four-hundredth regular-season game. The Oakville, Ont., defenceman factored in on all six Oilers goals, becoming the fourth NHL blueliner in history to tally at the very least three goals and three assists in a single contest, joining Bobby Orr, Tom Bladon, and Doug Crossman. He also became the fourth Edmonton defenceman to record six points in a game, following Paul Coffey (twice) and Kevin Lowe.
Bouchard opened the scoring late in the primary period together with his twelfth goal of the season, snapping a wrist shot through traffic past Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren. The Oilers initially kept the Capitals off the scoreboard through nearly all the opening frame, with the visitors not recording their first shot until the ultimate minute. Nevertheless, it never took long for Washington to reply as Aliaksei Protas converted a rebound 22 seconds after Bouchard’s goal, and Justin Sourdif tied it again following Bouchard’s second-period goal.
Leon Draisaitl contributed three assists, including one on Bouchard’s second goal, the 600th regular-season helper of his profession. Draisaitl became the fourth player in franchise history to achieve 600 assists, joining Wayne Gretzky (1,086), Connor McDavid (778), and Mark Messier (642). Zach Hyman also contributed a goal and an assist, together with his late third-period strike, assisted by Bouchard, tying the sport at 5-5 with 31.7 seconds remaining.
Edmonton netminder Connor Ingram allowed three goals on 12 shots before being replaced midway through the second period by Tristan Jarry, who stopped 13 of 15 shots to secure the win. The Capitals’ offense was led by Connor McMichael, who had a goal and an assist, while Dylan Strome, Anthony Beauvillier, and Aliaksei Protas also scored. Tom Wilson added two assists, with Lindgren ending with 34 saves on 40 shots.
In additional time, Bouchard drew a penalty before springing McDavid on a breakaway, allowing Edmonton’s captain to backhand the puck past Lindgren for his team-leading thirty second goal of the season. McDavid also added three assists in regulation, reclaiming the NHL scoring lead from Nathan MacKinnon with 90 points (32G, 58A) in 53 games.
The Oilers improved to 26-19-8 with the win and can next host the Anaheim Geese on Monday.