Oilers call up another phenom, he scores twice to cap stunning upset
Season debuts don't get much better than what Leon Draisaitl did Thursday night.
Draisaitl's second goal with 1:02 left broke a tie and the Edmonton Oilers scored four straight goals in a 4-3 victory over the league-leading Montreal Canadiens.
Draisaitl was called up earlier in the day from Bakersfield of the AHL and missed the morning skate. The third overall pick in the 2014 draft played in 37 NHL games last season.
"My flight landed at 2:30 p.m., I went to the hotel, ate quick, and came to the rink," Draisaitl said. "For me personally, it feels good, but this game was really important for the team as well. Not folding our hands and coming back from down 3-0, that shows the character in the room."
Brandon Davidson and Benoit Pouliot also scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games. The Oilers erased a 3-0 first-period deficit to end a three-game skid.
"Obviously they are the NHL's best team over there," McDavid said. "It feels pretty special to come back like that against them.
"We have been finding ways to lose games and having teams come back on us in the third period. To do it the other way around feels pretty good."
Brendan Gallagher, Torrey Mitchell and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal. The Canadiens have lost two straight after starting the season with nine straight victories.
"We had a really strong start, we were playing the right way and we started the second period wrong," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "We tried to be fancy and it was really frustrating to see our team play that way and we got what we deserved."
Montreal started the scoring midway through the opening period with a power-play goal. Gallagher tipped P.K. Subban's shot past goalie Cam Talbot for his fifth of the season.
The Canadiens made it 2-0 with 3 minutes to play in the first when Mitchell stripped a puck from defender Oscar Klefbom and beat Talbot high to the glove side, also his fifth goal of the season.
A minute later, the Habs took a three-goal advantage as a big bounce off the boards came to Andrei Markov in the corner. He made a perfect pass through the crease to Galchenyuk for the goal.
Edmonton finally got one past Montreal goalie Carey Price with 52 seconds left in the second. A chip shot by Draisaitl on the power play hit the netminder and was ruled over the line despite being gloved out of the air by Alexi Emelin.
The Oilers almost scored early in the third, but Subban incredibly knocked Pouliot's shot that was heading into the net out of the air and sent it down the ice.
Edmonton made it 3-2 6 minutes into the period when Davidson's point blast deflected off defender Jeff Petry and into the Montreal net.
The Oilers tied the game 3-3 midway through the third when McDavid sprang Pouliot for a breakaway. It was Pouliot's third of the year.
Edmonton completed the comeback when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed it out front to Draisaitl for his second of the contest.
Notes: Price has actually struggled with the Oilers in recent years, coming into the game with a 1-6 record against Edmonton, a 3.71 GAA and an .857 save percentage. . Habs winger Alexander Semin was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. . The Oilers announced that defenseman Justin Schultz will miss the next two to four weeks with a shoulder injury. ... Calgary is the next opponent for both teams. The Canadiens will travel to face the Flames on Friday. Calgary then visits Edmonton on Saturday.
