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Nashville Predators 2, Edmonton Oilers 3 (OT): McDavid’s milestone dazzles

Nov 14, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period, his 1000th NHL point against the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

The Preds opened the game with a trip to the sin bin, as Colton Sissons headed off for slashing Leon Draisaitl less than two minutes in — not the start they wanted. Some strong work from the non-Sissons penalty killers kept Scott Wedgewood’s workload light, but Nashville wasn’t able to locate the offensive zone.

When they did, Michael McCarron tipped a Roman Josi shot to get the Preds on the board first at 8:22. They weren’t able to hold that momentum, with Wedgewood forced to make several high-profile saves on the Oilers’ plethora of weapons, and with just a minute left in the first period Jonathan Marchessault took a tripping penalty and the Preds went back to the penalty kill.

The first intermission split the Oilers’ power play, but no sooner had the Preds killed off the Marchessault penalty than Sissons took his second of the game. While it got evened out five seconds later when Jeff Skinner took a penalty of his own, Nashville wasn’t out of the woods. Marchessault accidentally passed straight to an opponent, which let Connor McDavid score — his thousandth career point — off a play almost impossible for Wedgewood to have stopped.

Darnell Nurse scored moments later, giving the Oilers a 2-1 lead. The Oilers continued to press, even getting a solid shorthanded chance when Corey Perry (inevitably) took a penalty, and continued that momentum through an Alex Carrier penalty — though Josi had a very solid shorthanded chance of his own.

Other than that, though, it was all Edmonton, continuing into the third period. By the second half of the third period the Preds finally found their feet again, and Cole Smith stunned the crowd by scoring with 2:48 remaining before the buzzer.

McDavid had a spectacular late chance, with another key save from Wedgewood, and the Preds survived to overtime. Despite some more huge saves from Wedgewood and a few good looks from the Preds skaters, it proved to be a repeat of Monday’s game, as McDavid set up Nurse for his second of the night and secured the winner point for Edmonton.

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