Evan Bouchard’s goal gives Oilers franchise-best 10th victory in a row

MONTREAL — Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal 2:01 into time beyond regulation, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Saturday evening for a franchise-record 10th consecutive victory.

Leon Draisaitl additionally scored for Edmonton (23-15-1), and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves. Connor McDavid picked up an help on Bouchard’s 10th goal of the season.

“We just found ways to win games. you don’t put a streak together by just relying on one line,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned.

“When you’re winning games, you have confidence, and you don’t have to doubt yourself or feel that you have to change your game. We just have to stick with it, and we’ll win hockey games.”

Montreal (17-19-6) misplaced for the seventh time in 9 video games. Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens, and Sam Montembeault made 39 stops.

“I’m feeling good right now and every practice has been going well,” Montembeault mentioned. “The morning skate today was a really good one and that helps you get to the game knowing you’re ready.

“After that, I simply have to remain centered, and the remainder of the work comes by itself.”

Caufield put Montreal in front 1:43 into the first period with his 12th goal. Nick Suzuki spotted Caufield with a cross-seam pass, setting up a wide-open net and ending a five-game goal drought on the man advantage.

“I feel we performed a very good sport,” Canadiens coach Martin St Louis said. “They’re a powerful crew to deal with with their pace and their offensive sport and I feel we did that fairly properly.

“The guys knew that it was going to be a big undertaking on the defensive side of the game, and we did just that. We didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot and made sure our collective game was good.”

Bouchard had the Oilers’ first vital likelihood of the sport, sending a level shot off a submit three minutes into the second interval.

Draisaitl tied it at 1 together with his twentieth of the season 38 seconds into the third. He smacked a rebound previous Montembeault.

“Their goalie played great and made a lot of saves on some of our top guys, but we stuck with it, and we knew that we would find one or two,” Draisaitl mentioned.

“It’s very mature hockey. Lots of teams are playing us hard every night and lots of credit to the group for battling through it and eventually getting wins.”