The season is over for the Edmonton Oilers, their bubble has been burst.
After showing so much promise during the regular season, the Oilers lasted less than a week into the NHL’s Return to Play format, losing 3-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and falling to 3-1 in the best-of-five qualifying series.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs will take place at Rogers Place without the Oilers, who now have a chance to earn the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft again, to be determined on Monday.
Dominik Kubalik scored the game-winner for the Blackhawks with 11:30 to play in the third period, taking a pass in tight from Jonathan Toews and beating goaltender Mikko Koskinen. Toews won a puck battle against rookie defenceman Ethan Bear at the side of the net to gain possession and slid it out front to a wide-open Kubalik.
Brandon Saad and Matthew Highmore also scored for the Blackhawks and Corey Crawford made 41 saves.
Josh Archibald and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers. Mikko Koskinen made 25 saves.
Archibald scored 45 seconds into the game off an outstanding pass from Connor McDavid.
Skating down the right boards back towards the blue line, the Oilers captain threw a no-look pass across to Archibald who one-timed a shot past Crawford.
The Blackhawks responded less than five minutes later when Saad collected a rebound, went around the net and wrapped the puck in, beating Koskinen to the other side.
Highmore gave Chicago the lead less than three minutes later, tipping in a Duncan Keith point shot in past Koskinen. The Blackhawks came close to extending their lead later in the period when Alex Nylander hit the post on a shot from the slot.
The Oilers went into the period down 2-1, but started it on the power play. Koskinen make a short-handed breakaway save on David Kampf to keep the deficit at one goal. The save was magnified when Nugent-Hopkins scored two seconds after the Blackhawks penalty to Highmore for high-sticking had expired to tie the game 2-2.
Shortly after tying the game the Oilers were awarded a five-minute power play when Alex DeBrincat drove Bear into the boards from behind. DeBrincat was ejected for the hit.
The Oilers were unable to capitalize, however, as the power play was cut short by a questionable interference penalty on Darnell Nurse who ran into Drake Caggiula at the Blackhawks bench on his way to retrieve the puck in his own zone.
After falling behind in the third, the Oilers pressed for the tying goal and Leon Draisaitl had the best chance with a point-blank shot late, but was turned away by Crawford.
With 2:03 left in the game, the Oilers were assessed a minor for too-many-men when there was a mix-up at the bench with Koskinen being pulled for the extra attacker. The Oilers were able to pull Koskinen to play even strength in the last minute but could not score the tying goal.
The Blackhawks will move on to face the top team in the Western Conference, currently being determined in a round-robin seeding tournament.
Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @DerekVanDiest
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vZWRtb250b25zdW4uY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9ob2NrZXkvbmhsL2VkbW9udG9uLW9pbGVycy9jaGljYWdvLWJsYWNraGF3a3MtYnVyc3QtZWRtb250b24tb2lsZXJzLWJ1YmJsZdIBbWh0dHBzOi8vZWRtb250b25zdW4uY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9ob2NrZXkvbmhsL2VkbW9udG9uLW9pbGVycy9jaGljYWdvLWJsYWNraGF3a3MtYnVyc3QtZWRtb250b24tb2lsZXJzLWJ1YmJsZS9hbXA?oc=5
2020-08-08 02:01:00Z
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