EDMONTON — Taylor Hall had two goals and two assists and Lauri Korpikoski added his first career hat trick as the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to five games with a 7-5 victory over the New York Rangers in a wild contest on Friday.
Teddy Purcell and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers (13-15-2), who have won their last six contests at home dating back to Nov. 20.
Derick Brassard scored twice and Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash and Chris Kreider also had goals for the Rangers (18-9-3), who have lost two in a row and four of their last five.
Edmonton kicked off the scoring on the power play six-and-a-half minutes into the first period as Korpikoski made a strong second effort to poke a rebound under Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
The Rangers tied the game with eight minutes left in the first when Edmonton couldn’t clear the puck, allowing Kreider to make a long pass to Zuccarello, who put his 12th of the season past Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson from the front of the net.
The Oilers restored their lead and then some with goals 1:10 apart later in the opening frame as Korpikoski got another goal in tight off a rebound. Then Hall dropped a pass back to Purcell in the slot and he picked the top corner to make it 3-1.
New York got one back 53 seconds into the second period as Kreider split the defence and slid the puck between Nilsson’s legs.
The Rangers tied the game up nine minutes into the second on a long shot from Brassard.
Edmonton pulled back in front on a goal on a backhand shot from Hall that came just 18 seconds into the third.
The Oilers restored their two-goal lead three minutes into the third on a goal from Nurse that chased Lundqvist from the net – leading to Antti Raanta coming in.
New York made it 5-4 six-and-a-half minutes into the third as Brassard was able to cash in on a rebound after a Nash shot went off the post.
The Rangers tied the game up on a Nash power-play goal with 1:46 remaining, but the Oilers came flying back to regain the lead just 13 seconds later on Hall’s second of the night.
Korpikoski got his third goal into an empty net.
The Rangers are right back at it on Saturday, heading to Calgary to face the Flames. The Oilers begin a four-game road trip on Monday in Boston.
NOTES: A special pre-game banner raising ceremony was held to honour former Oilers coach and general manager Glen Sather, now president of the Rangers. Sather was the architect of Edmonton’s five Stanley Cup wins… Rangers bench boss Alain Vigneault coached his 1,000th game.
