EDMONTON -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the deciding goal in the shootout, and the Edmonton Oilers ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday at Rexall Place.
Nugent-Hopkins snapped a shot past Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue to start the third round. Arizona forward Antoine missed the net on his attempt against Cam Talbot, ending the game and the Oilers' losing streak.
"We're trying to stay positive and work through some things and we need contributions from everybody, from defense to forwards," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Our line definitely has to keep producing. Since the [Christmas] break, I feel we have done a little better there. After Christmas, we didn't take advantage of the games against teams in our division. It was a big one for us tonight. We took a lot of pride in it. It was great to see us stick with it after getting down by a goal in the third. We really wanted to come back and get that one and played with some desperation tonight."
Jordan Eberle scored two goals, Taylor Hall had one and Talbot made 31 saves through overtime for Edmonton (16-21-3).
Steve Downie, Brad Richardson and Anthony Duclair scored for Arizona (18-16-4) and Domingue made 38 saves. Arizona is 16-0-4 against the Oilers in their past 20 games. The last time Edmonton beat Arizona in regulation was a 4-3 win on Jan. 25, 2011.
"It was a tight game, tight game," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "We missed an assignment in our own end and gave them a chance to tie it up [3-3] and then it was a tight game. Both teams had some chances here and there and with 13 seconds left we had a real good chance. But when you get to the shootout, anything can happen."
Downie gave Arizona the lead at 6:56 of the first period when he was able to find space in front of the net behind defenseman Darnell Nurse and tapped a centering pass from Jordan Martinook past Talbot.
Hall converted a centering pass from Leon Draisaitl at 7:55 to tie the game 1-1. Draisaitl chased down the puck in the corner and sent a backhand pass into the slot to Hall, who fired it past Domingue.
Eberle scored on the power play at 11:39 to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. Benoit Pouliot took a shot from the edge of the right circle that was stopped by Domingue, but the rebound fell to Mark Letestu. He slid a pass to Eberle, who scored the Oilers' first power-play goal since Hall got one during a 4-2 loss at the New York Rangers on Dec. 15.
"They're a pretty stingy team, but we worked on some things that we struggled with against Anaheim [a 1-0 loss Thursday], trying to break through their neutral zone, and we created offense with it," Eberle said. "The thing I liked about our game, is they're a stingy team, they don't really give up much and they wait for you to make a mistake and they pounce.
"We worked on some things in practice to create offense against a team like that, and I thought we created a lot more with it. It's something to look forward to, that we can play teams like that."
Richardson's perseverance helped him tie the game 2-2 at 14:30 of the second period. Richardson's first shot was blocked in front of the net by Nurse, but he was able to collect the puck and beat Talbot between the pads.
Duclair gave the Coyotes a 3-2 lead at 5:51 of the third period, taking a pass from Max Domi on a 2-on-1 and firing a shot over Talbot's shoulder.
"[Klas Dahlbeck] made a great play to get the puck out, and me and [Duclair] were gone with a lot of speed," Domi said. "We practice that play a lot in practice. I just gave him the puck and he was able to finish, it was a nice goal."
Eberle tied the game for the third time at 14:08, taking a pass from Nugent-Hopkins in front and lifting a backhand shot over Domingue.
The Oilers had two excellent chances to score in overtime. Nugent-Hopkins hit the post on a backhand and defenseman Justin Schultz missed the net with a one-timer on a setup in front by Hall.
After Eberle missed with the first shot in the shootout, Mikkel Boedker scored to give Arizona the lead. Matt Hendricks scored to get the Oilers even, and Domi missed on the Coyotes' next attempt.
Nugent-Hopkins scored to give Edmonton the lead and Vermette missed fired wide.
"I thought [Nugent-Hopkins] had a really good game," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "I don't know what anybody else thought, but standing back there [behind the bench], I wanted to keep putting him on the ice. He battled, he stripped pucks, he created a great opportunity for [Eberle] on [the tying goal] and I just felt real confident with him, I felt confident with that line."
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