Neal Records Hat Trick In 4-Point Game, Oilers Top Rangers
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — James Neal had three goals and an assist and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and three assists as the Edmonton Oilers built a six-goal lead and held on to beat the New York Rangers 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Leon Draisaitl, Josh Archibald and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers (21-17-4) who snapped a two-game losing skid and won for just the third time in 11 games.
Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Marc Staal, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad scoredfor the Rangers (19-16-4) who saw a two-game winning streak come to an end.
After allowing a goal 11 seconds into their loss to Calgary on Friday, the Oilers scored 11 seconds into their game against the Rangers on their first shot, as Zack Kassian made a backhand pass in front to Neal, who directed home his 17th of the season past New York goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
Edmonton took a two-goal lead on the power play nine minutes into the opening period as Neal tipped in a long shot by Oscar Klefbom for his second goal of the game.
The Oilers kept coming with yet another goal two minutes later as Nugent-Hopkins redirected in his eighth of the season off of an Ethan Bear shot, giving Edmonton three goals on six shots.
Edmonton went up 4-0 with another power-play goal with seven minutes left in the second frame as Nugent-Hopkins kicked the puck back to Draisaitl in traffic in front and he scored his 23rd.
The Rangers took a bench penalty out of frustration with the officiating and the Oilers scored another power-play goal just 12 seconds later. Connor McDavid dropped it back to Neal, who blasted in a shot for the hat trick.
Edmonton scored its third goal in less than three minutes as Archibald snapped home his third.
That chased an irate Georgiev from the net. Henrik Lundqvist replaced him.
The Rangers finally got one past Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen as Kreider sent a one-timer into the net with 25 seconds remaining in the second period.
New York got another one back five minutes into the third as Strome converted on a great pass from Adam Fox.
The Rangers then gave the Oilers a scare with two goals in 38 seconds as Staal scored his second of the season and Panarin notched his 22nd to go along with three assists.
The comeback continued with 3:45 left in the third period as Koskinen made a glove save on a Zibanejad shot, but that glove was deemed to be well over the goal line.
The Oilers managed to finally put the game away with an empty net goal by Yamamoto, who was playing his first game of the season.
NOTES:
No team in NHL history has ever come back to win from a 6-0 deficit.
UP NEXT:
Rangers visit the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
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