Four-goal third vaults Oilers past Devils

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Adam Erne scored in a 69-second span early in the third period for the Edmonton Oilers, who squandered an early lead before storming back to beat the New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Thursday in Newark, N.J.

McDavid took advantage of a collision in the crease between Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler to fire a puck into the nearly empty net to tie the score 3-3 at the 1:40 mark of the third.

Draisaitl gave the Oilers the lead by picking off Kevin Bahl's pass and beating Vanecek with the backhand 42 seconds later. Erne and James Hamblin then mounted a two-on-one that ended with Erne holding on to the puck and navigating a shot around Vanecek.

Ryan McLeod scored his second goal off another Devils turnover with 10:56 left.

McLeod and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored early in the first period for the Oilers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Goalie Calvin Pickard made 23 saves.

Dawson Mercer scored in the first before Siegenthaler and Timo Meier scored the tying and go-ahead goals, respectively, in the second for the Devils, who have lost three straight (0-2-1). Vanecek recorded 28 saves and took the loss in relief of Akira Schmid, who was chased after allowing two goals on six shots.

A turnover behind the Devils' net by Luke Hughes led to McLeod scoring just 24 seconds after the opening faceoff. McDavid stole the puck from Bahl to set up Edmonton's second goal five minutes later, when Nugent-Hopkins put back the rebound of a shot by Mattias Ekholm.

The Devils responded with three unanswered goals in a span of 23-plus minutes bridging the first and second periods. Mercer checked the puck free from Warren Foegele deep in the New Jersey zone to begin the sequence that ended with the center taking a drop pass from McLeod and firing a shot into the far corner of the net with 6:46 left in the first.

Siegenthaler tied the score just 99 seconds into the middle period when his shot from a few feet in front of the blue line sailed by Pickard as he was screened by five players. A turnover by Erne near center ice led to Meier's goal with 3:34 left.

—Field Level Media