The Edmonton Oilers posted their eighth win in a row Tuesday night, hanging on for a 2-1 victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago.
The Oilers had only 15 shots on goal.
The Blackhawks took the lead six minutes into the game when Jason Dickinson dragged the puck in front and beat Stuart Skinner. Less than two minutes later, Skinner made a big save by throwing down his left arm to deny Zachary Sanford on a wrap around. Leon Draisaitl tied it when he took a pass from Ryan McLeod and flipped his 19th of the season past Petr Mrazek.
Early in the second, Mattias Ekholm sent a long pass ahead to Connor McDavid, who went in on a breakaway. McDavid went to the forehand to deposit his 15th. The Oilers briefly celebrated another goal a couple of minutes later, but the ref waved it off as he deemed Zach Hyman to be guilty of goalie interference.
After the Oilers killed off a penalty early in the third, Hyman tapped in a pass from McDavid. The Blackhawks challenged the play for offside. After a lengthy video review, it was ruled Leon Draisaitl was barely offside on the zone entry to negate the goal.
“If it takes you 15 minutes to determine if it’s offside, it probably doesn’t really matter. These are calls that change games and ultimately it didn’t go our way. I thought it was onside”, McDavid said.
Rem Pitlick then had a look at an open net for the Blackhawks, but rang the puck off the goal post.
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch says the Oilers were just good enough to get the win.
“I think (Skinner) was outstanding. I think he really saved us, he played really well, came with some big saves especially late in the game. We’ll take our two points and move on.
Skinner, who finished with 25 saves, held the fort after that with the Oilers missing a couple of chances to put the game away after Mrazek was pulled for an extra attacker.
The Oilers, 21-15-1, visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 3:30 p.m., game at 5 p.m.).
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