NASHVILLE — The Nashville Predators were exactly what Jack Campbell and the Edmonton Oilers needed, right when they needed it most.
On a two-game losing streak and with the powerful Dallas Stars next up on the road trip, facing a Nashville team they’ve beaten eight-straight times, including 7-4 and 6-3 this season with Campbell in the nets, was perfect timing.
And, just to make the landing spot even softer, the Predators came into Monday’s contest on a six-game losing streak, having managed just nine goals in going 0-4-2.
For a team in a tough patch and a goalie working to find his game, it was everything Edmonton and Campbell could ask for.
Final score, Nashville 4, Edmonton 3, in case you were wondering how things are going for the Oilers right now.
“It seemed like a see-saw battle a little bit,” said Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, focusing on the positives in a rather negative result. “We were never able to get the lead on them, but I thought our team fought hard. And in the end, it was decided in overtime.
“We came into a tough building and got a point. We’re ready to take that and move on.”
The Oilers, coming off a really hard loss against the Anaheim Ducks, another team they were supposed to beat, didn’t seem to have much jump. But they used their usual formula — the power play — to overcome an unspectacular performance, push it to overtime and at least come away with a single.
Third-pairing defenceman Alex Carrier scored the OT winner for Nashville.
“We batted all game to give ourselves and chance and couldn’t get that second point,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored two of the three goals, both on the man advantage.
“They played a solid, hard-working game and I thought we matched that pretty well. It’s frustrating not to get the second one.”
After two lopsided wins over Nashville, the Oilers knew what was coming in round three. They just couldn’t quite match it.
“We definitely felt that (Nashville would be snarly), especially after playing them a week ago in their building and beating them,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “It’s not a team that goes away easily and we knew that coming in. We were prepared for it. We kept it tight and battled all game.”
Leon Draisaitl, who had 10 points in the previous two games with Nashville, five in each, got blanked in this one. While the line of he, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman, which combined for 13 points in the 6-3 win on Dec. 13, settled for two McDavid assists in Monday’s win.
The head-turners in this one were Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi (yup, that Jesse Puljujarvi) with his first goal in 25 games.
Nice, but not enough.
This one started out with Nashville scoring an early goal, just 4:35 into the first period, which is how all the Oilers-Predators games have started out this year. The Preds went up 1-0 at 1:15 in the last game and at 34 seconds the first time they met. So, when a series of unfortunate events led to Mattias Ekholm being left all alone for a tap-in on a three-on-two, it was no big deal.
What happened next, however, rarely happens. Puljujarvi carried the puck into the Nashville zone, threw it at the net and his 25-game goal-scoring streak, dating back to Oct. 26 in St. Louis, was over. With his father in the building on the Dad’s Trip, no less.
The Preds took the lead again in the second (Jordan Gross at 2:57) and the Nugent-Hopkins tied it back up again just 1:25 later.
Then, on a power play with eight minutes left in the second period, Matt Duchene flipped the puck over a rather ill-advised poke check attempt from Campbell and it was 3-2 Nashville after 40 minutes.
At this point, it was starting to look like a big deal.
The 17th of the season from Nugent-Hopkins squared things up again just 1:51 into the third period, but that would be as close as Edmonton got.
That’s three losses in a row, with Dallas up next.
“We had the opportunity to win all three of those games and we haven’t found it,” said Woodcroft. “For me, this game could have gone either way and in the end they made a play in overtime and got the extra point. But I thought our team fought hard tonight.”
LATE HITS
Edmonton scored twice on the man advantage for the fourth-straight game, and seventh time in the last nine games. … Woodcroft was ill and didn’t fly to Nashville on the team charter Sunday. Instead, he caught a commercial flight the morning of the game. … With his second-period assist, McDavid moved into a tie with Bryan Trottier for most points recorded by a player 25 or younger in league history with 760. They trail Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk and Steve Yzerman.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @Rob_Tychkowski
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