The Oilers fall to their fourth straight defeat on Tuesday night at Amalie Arena after Leon Draisaitl's 43rd goal of the season in the first period was their lone goal in a 4-1 defeat to the Lightning
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TAMPA, FL – The Edmonton Oilers suffered their fourth straight defeat on Tuesday night after forward Leon Draisaitl scored their lone goal in a 4-1 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
Draisaitl opened the scoring on the power play with his 43rd goal of the season that came off Connor McDavid’s 698th career assist in his 697th NHL game at 11:53 into the first period, which leaves the captain two helpers short of becoming the third-fastest player in NHL history to reach the mark.
Michael Eyssimont responded 1:18 later to tie the game with a back-hand finish that sparked a run of four unanswered goals for the Lightning, who earned their sixth straight victory off the strength of goals from Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman and Nick Paul. Winger Nikita Kucherov had two assists for Tampa Bay, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves for the victory.
Edmonton netminder Stuart Skinner was beaten four times on 37 shots, while defenceman Evan Bouchard picked up a solitary helper in the defeat that drops the Oilers to 34-20-4 this season with their third defeat on this five-game road trip.
The Oilers will continue their trek on the East Coast in Sunrise on Thursday night when they make their first visit back to Amerant Bank Arena to play the Florida Panthers since Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers lose their fourth straight after losing 4-1 to the Lightning
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner was ready early in the period to make two great saves against Brandon Hagel to keep the lightning off the board – once on chance in the first minute off a missed pass by Evan Bouchard before making an unreal reaction stop on the Tampa Bay winger before the five-minute mark after the initial shot from the point was blocked in front.
Skinner was looking to bounce back from allowing five goals on 31 shots back on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia along with the Oilers, who’d lost three straight and back-to-back games coming out the break to begin their five-game road trip.
The netminder’s early stops allowed his teammates to take the lead on their first power play less than 12 minutes into the opening frame, where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl exchanged passes inside the right circle before the German fired home his 43rd goal of the season to extend his goal streak to six games while giving the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
Draisaitl’s opens the scoring on the power play with his 43rd goal
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Draisaitl has amassed 40 more power-play goals than the next closest player in Toronto’s Auston Matthews, with 13 of his 43 goals this season coming on the man advantage. Connor McDavid’s primary helper was the 698th of his career in his 697th NHL game, and the captain would become the third-fastest to reach 700 assists if he’s able to reach the mark before his 700th game.
But just over a minute later, a turnover by Kasperi Kapanen in the neutral zone resulted to the Lightning coming back on an odd-man rush and making it 1-1 off the finish by Michael Eyssimont, who roofed his back-hand effort over the glove of Stuart Skinner after Gage Goncalves found him with a pass through the legs of Brett Kulak.
After Skinner’s early exploits boosted the Oilers against the Bolts, the shot-stopper would’ve liked Brandon Hagel’s goal back early in the middle frame that put Tampa Bay in control before Edmonton ran into some penalty trouble.
Hagel streaked around the net less than 30 seconds into the period and beat Skinner to the far post with his wrap-around attempt to give the Saskatoon, SK product eight goals in his last eight games, putting Tampa Bay ahead 2-1 with his tally that began a challenging first half to the middle stanza for Edmonton.
The Oilers found themselves short five-on-three over four minutes later with Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both in the box for high-sticking. Then, 20 seconds into Tampa Bay’s two-man advantage, defenceman Victor Hedman’s lucky bounce off the stick of a sliding Mattias Janmark shot up off the ice and went under the glove of Skinner to give the Lightning a two-goal lead at 14:22 of the frame.
Despite being beaten twice in the first half of the second period on two unfortunate goals, Skinner was still coming up with some important saves as the Oilers were behind 28-19 on the shot clock while trailing 3-1 to the Lightning after 40 minutes.
Edmonton was beaten off the rush 7:23 into the final frame to make the task of coming back even more difficult when Zach Hyman’s rimmed puck in the offensive zone was intercepted by Nikita Kucherov to create the 4-1 goal for Tampa Bay.
Kucherov threw the puck into space across the ice for Jake Guentzel to pick up inside the Oilers zone before he sauced it over to a streaking Nick Paul, who deflected it over the outstretched Skinner in front as Nugent-Hopkins tried to chase him down coming over the blue line. Kucherov picked up his second assist of the game and has now picked up a point in 19 of his last 20 games, recording 31 points since Jan. 5.
With the Oilers chasing a three-goal deficit, winger Matt Savoie had a golden opportunity before the 11-minute mark to record his first NHL goal when he had two chances against Andrei Vasilevskiy in close that the 21-year-old couldn’t put away.
The St. Albert product’s chase for his first goal came to an end in a 4-1 defeat for the Oilers to the Lightning that marked their fourth straight defeat, and third straight on this five-game road trip. The Oilers will look to break their losing streak in Sunrise on Thursday night when they make their first trip back to Amerant Bank Arena to face the Florida Panthers for the first time since Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
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