WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Edmonton coach Todd McLennan made no apology for his bias toward Oilers star Connor McDavid.
McLennan only had to watch McDavid score twice and add two assists as the Oilers overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 Tuesday night on Darnell Nurse’s goal 1:25 into overtime.
“He’s our captain. He’s our leader,” McLellan said of McDavid. “He’s, in my opinion, the best player on earth right now and he decided that he was going to will his team to a win.”
McDavid set an NHL record by scoring or assisting on his team’s first nine goals to start a season, breaking Adam Oates’ record of seven with Detroit in 1986-87. McDavid has four goals and five assists in four games.
“You know what? It’s whatever. I’m not overly proud of it,” McDavid said about the record. “I don’t think it’s a stat we should be proud of, either.
“It is what it is, but we found a way to get a goal there at the end so we don’t ever have to talk about it again.”
Ty Rattie ignited the comeback when he scored 18 seconds into the third period. McDavid got his second power-play goal of the game at 2:28 to trim Winnipeg’s lead to 4-3.
Jesse Puljujarvi tied it at 13:39 when a shot by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit the Finnish forward’s stick and went past goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl each had two assists.
Jets forward Adam Lowry had two goals during a three-minute span in the first period. Mark Scheifele and defenseman Ben Chiarot also scored.
“I just think we shot ourselves in the foot,” Lowry said. “We started to make plays at the blue line and fed into their transition game. We were on our heels in the third.
“Credit to them, they didn’t quit. They have a dynamic top line and it showed tonight.”
Nurse scored the winner unassisted when he got around Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers and beat Hellebuyck.
“Going into the third we could have gone two different ways, and 18 seconds in his line makes a huge play,” Nurse said about McDavid.
“When you have a leader like that, everyone feeds off that. For him to be able to set the tone every single game, it’s incredible.”
Hellebuyck made 30 saves for the Jets (3-2-1).
Cam Talbot, playing his 200th game with the Oilers (2-2-0), stopped 29 shots.
Winnipeg opened a 3-1 lead in the first period.
Lowry got his first goal when he wasn’t challenged in front and sent the puck past Talbot at 4:51. Lowry then got his own rebound and his shot went under a sprawling Talbot at 7:47 to make it 2-0.
McDavid connected on the power play when he cut smoothly to the front of the net and flipped a backhand past Hellebuyck at 12:49.
But only 22 seconds later, Chiarot restored his team’s two-goal lead on a point shot with Patrik Laine providing the screen in front.
Continuing a power play to start the second, Scheifele fired in his goal off the rebound of Laine’s one-timer to make it 4-1 at 1:02.
“Yeah, 4-1 should be game over,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “Our line went out, gave up one early on and gave them momentum. You’re fighting an uphill battle from there.”
Winnipeg played without injured defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (lower body) for the second straight game.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Play their home opener Thursday against Boston to begin a four-game homestand.
Jets: Continue a six-game homestand, their longest of the season, Thursday against Vancouver.
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