Jack Roslovic scores the OT winner, Jake Walman has two goals plus an assist & Connor McDavid lights the lamp twice as the Oilers come back to beat Columbus 5-4 on Monday
EDMONTON, AB – How’s that for a response?
Defenceman Jake Walman had two goals and an assist, including the tying goal shorthanded with 58 seconds left, while Connor McDavid had a pair of goals and Jack Roslovic netted the winning tally on Monday as the Edmonton Oilers rallied to secure a 5-4 overtime victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Rogers Place.
Trailing 3-1 entering the final 20 minutes, McDavid dazzled with two terrific individual efforts before Walman received a fortunate bounce off the stick of Mathieu Olivier while shorthanded in the last minute of regulation, tying the game 4-4 and forcing it to overtime.
In sudden death, Roslovic capped off the 5-4 comeback with a backhand-breakaway finish just 56 seconds in to give the Oilers a much-needed victory coming off Saturday’s heavy defeat on home ice to the Avalanche and before they head out on the road for a season-long seven-game road trip.
The Oilers will look to carry their momentum into the start of their lengthy road trip on Tuesday night with the first of back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Oilers come back to beat Columbus 5-4 in overtime
That’s how you start building a response.
With plenty of purpose in every one of their actions during the opening 20 minutes on Monday, the Oilers came out against the Blue Jackets on home ice with the emotional and physical response they’d hoped to see coming off Saturday’s humbling loss to the Avalanche.
The Oilers weren’t about to brush off being buried by the Avalanche, knowing that each one of them needed to look themselves in the mirror and do that little bit extra individually to help pull the club out of its collective struggles, which culminated in their 9-1 defeat and a hard lesson that they needed to have.
Forward Trent Frederic was one of those who wore the criticism post-game on Saturday by saying he needed to be better, and that nobody in the League would want to fight a guy who’s scored one goal in 15 games. But he was the first to try to inject some physicality and emotion for the Oilers by scrapping none other than the NHL’s heavyweight champion in Mathieu Olivier, who gave him a few hard punches and a black right eye while trying to spark the bench.
Evan speaks after the Oilers rallied to beat Columbus in overtime
Leon Draisaitl was trying to lead by example by chasing down Kirill Marchenko to make a vital stick lift after committing the giveaway that led to a Columbus odd-man rush, and Vasily Podkolzin delivered a heavy hit on Denton Mateychuk on the forecheck soon after as one of 10 first-period hits from the Oilers.
Forward Curtis Lazar getting involved in front of the net with Jake Christiansen after a whistle past the eight-minute mark produced a four-on-four scenario that turned into a Columbus four-on-three when Evan Bouchard slashed Adam Fantilli on the hands to send the Oilers to the penalty kill for the first time.
Marchenko struck the post on the man advantage, but after it looked like the Oilers escaped danger when Bouchard exited the box, defenceman Ivan Provorov was able to put a shot on goal through traffic that found its way through to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 11:42 of the frame.
Jake talks after scoring twice in the 5-4 OT win vs. Columbus
The Oilers continued to press after going behind to the Blue Jackets, with Savoie stealing the puck off a defenceman for a partial breakaway inside the offensive zone and nearly tucking it in around the outstretched left skate of netminder Jet Greaves, but the rookie couldn’t come up with the quick response.
Before the intermission, the Oilers were rewarded after defenceman Jake Walman’s long wrist shot managed to find its way past the glove of Greaves and under the crossbar for an unassisted marker to make it 1-1 with 2:32 left in the period.
It was Walman’s second goal of the season, putting him within one point of reaching 100 for his career.
Stuart Skinner made a terrific left-pad save on Charlie Coyle to keep it level after 20 minutes, coming up with the crucial stop on the centre’s one-on-one opportunity after Ty Emberson flattened Yegor Chinakhov at the blueline.
Connor speaks after scoring twice in the 5-4 overtime victory
The commitment was there, but it was the Blue Jackets who broke through.
After Walman had the puck broken up inside the Columbus blueline, it was Sean Monahan who slid a rebound from Kent Johnson’s shot off the rush under the pad of Skinner to lift Columbus back into the lead just 1:39 into the middle frame.
More than half the period later, the Oilers came close to responding with the man advantage when Jack Roslovic struck the crossbar, before Trent Frederic – playing on the top-unit power play on Monday in the absence of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – couldn’t kick the rebound to his skate and put it away.
Before the intermission, another turnover below the Edmonton goal line turned over possession to Columbus, where the visitors worked it to Boone Jenner in the right circle before it went in off the skate of Brett Kulak defending inside the blue paint to double their advantage to 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Never count the Oilers out.
Just like how they refused to give up after Saturday’s heavy defeat to the Avalanche, the Oilers weren’t about to go quietly in the third period on Monday – seeing McDavid dazzle with a pair of terrific individual goals before Walman got the bounce they’d been needing while shorthanded in the last minute.
The Oilers captain was going to do everything in his power to get the Oilers back in this one, and there are a lot of things that he can do individually to make that happen – like the spinning move he delivered on Denton Mateychuk less than a minute into the third period that the Columbus defenceman will be thinking about for a loooooooong time.
McDavid dazzles with an amazing turn & finish to make it 3-2
McDavid came in on a two-on-two with Jack Roslovic and crossed up Mateychuk at the top of the right circle with a spinning move, causing him to fall backwards before No. 97 tossed a hard and quick backhand towards Greaves that beat the Blue Jackets netminder glove side to make it 3-2.
McDavid wasn’t done with the individual efforts after the Blue Jackets restored their two-goal lead 4:19 into the final frame – this time showing his speed out wide on a neutral-zone regroup to get around three Columbus skaters before tucking it far side on Greaves to make it a one-goal game once again with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation.
McDavid cuts it to 3-2 with his second goal on a great individual rush
The Oilers pulled Skinner for the extra attacker with over two minutes left, but a high-sticking penalty to Roslovic along the wall against Coyle looked to have derailed their comeback hopes until Walman pinched to keep the puck in during the final minute after McDavid and Draisaitl worked hard on the forecheck to direct the puck up the boards.
Walman intercepted it, cut towards the middle and tried to fire a backhand pass to the far side for either McDavid or Draisaitl, but instead watched as the puck caught a piece of the stick of Olivier to redirect it inadvertently into the top corner over Greaves to make it 4-4 with 58 seconds left.
After it looked like their efforts to respond on Monday were going to fall short, the Oilers were bound for overtime with a point in the bag and another one for the taking, while momentum and energy was all on their side.
Walman sends the game to OT with a shorthanded equalizer
The Columbus kid, playing against his hometown team for the first time as an Oiler, finished off his new side’s terrific rally for a huge victory.
After Stuart Skinner made an exceptional blocker save on a two-on-one against defenceman Zach Werenski, Roslovic was sprung for a breakaway by Walman and finished it off with a backhand under the right arm of Greaves to cap off Edmonton’s comeback 5-4 win.
Roslovic gives the Oilers a 5-4 OT win with a breakaway finish
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