Connor Brown scored twice, including the game-winner with 20.4 seconds remaining in regulation, as the Edmonton Oilers edged the visiting St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Wednesday night.
In the last minute, Brown backhanded a Connor McDavid pass past Jordan Binnington. McDavid, who returned to the Oilers’ lineup after missing eight games due to a lower-body injury, had three assists in the win.
Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for Edmonton (45-28-5, 95 points), which avoided a third straight loss and improved to 32-2-3 when leading after two periods this season.
With the win, Edmonton moved two points back of the second-place Kings in the Pacific Division, though Los Angeles has a game in hand.
Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard made 23 saves, and Darnell Nurse added two assists.
Pavel Buchnevich produced a goal and two assists, Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist and Ryan Suter also scored for the Blues (43-30-7, 93 points), who have lost back-to-back games after having their franchise-best 12-game winning streak snapped on Monday.
Binnington stopped 19 shots, and Robert Thomas added two assists.
Kyrou tied the game 2-2 just 14 seconds into the third period, snapping a shot under Pickard’s glove for his team-leading 34th goal.
Edmonton took a 3-2 lead 1:27 later, as Arvidsson jammed in a rebound off Brett Kulak’s point shot.
St. Louis tied it at 3-3 as Buchnevich banged home his own rebound at 5:25.
Despite being outshot through two periods, the Oilers erased a 1-0 deficit and led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Edmonton tied it 1-1 at 1:30 of the second period as Brown one-timed a McDavid feed past Binnington.
Podkolzin gave the Oilers their first lead of the night at 12:39 of the second, backhanding in the rebound off Nurse’s point shot.
Suter opened the scoring short-handed at 8:44 of the first, finishing off a two-on-one feed from Buchnevich.
The Oilers dressed 12 forwards and five defensemen as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jake Walman missed the contest due to illness.
Edmonton forward Noah Philp, who was recalled from AHL Bakersfield on an emergency basis on Tuesday, was in the lineup against the Blues.
–Field Level Media
