Defenseman John Klingberg’s third goal in two games broke a tie 6:08 into the third period, and Lukas Dostal made 22 of his career-high 46 saves in the final frame, as the visiting Anaheim Ducks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4–3 on Saturday, Dec. 17.
Tied 3–3 with just under 14 minutes to play, Klingberg picked the puck up on the far board and threw it on net by late-reacting Edmonton netminder Stuart Skinner (13 saves). Klingberg scored twice during Thursday’s 5–2 win at Montreal for the Ducks, who were outshot 49–17, but managed back-to-back wins for just the second time this season.
Dostal, in his sixth NHL start, was stout when needed. He stepped up late, when Anaheim was outshot 23–2 in the third. He made back-to-back key saves on Edmonton’s late power play against the Ducks, who got a goal and an assist from Ryan Strome and goals from Cam Fowler and Sam Carrick.
Connor McDavid posted his 28th goal with an assist for the Oilers, whose vaunted power play went just 2–for–6. Edmonton has dropped two straight and is 4–4–1 in December.
The Oilers trailed 3–1 late in the second, when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 15th goal of the season with 27.9 seconds left on a pass from McDavid with the man advantage. Then, via a five-on-three advantage, McDavid recorded his 13th power-play goal just 2:06 into the third.
Edmonton struck just 5:07 into the contest. Darnell Nurse threw a wrister across traffic from the point, getting it past Dostal. However, Anaheim tied it with 5:23 remaining in the first period when Mason McTavish made a nifty move in the slot, then found Carrick for his first goal of the season.
McTavish then helped the Ducks go ahead 2–1, when he dropped a pass to the point for Fowler, who drove it by a screened Skinner for a power-play goal with 2:41 left in the first.
Anaheim made it 3–1 with 11:29 remaining in the second period. Strome intercepted Evan Bouchard’s lazy back-handed pass just inside the Ducks’ blue line, then raced in and beat Skinner for his eighth marker of the season.
