Connor McDavid scored on a breakaway 2:42 into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers beat the host Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Monday night.
McDavid took a feed from Leon Draisaitl and roofed the game winner over Montreal goalie Jake Allen for McDavid’s 33rd goal and a two-point game.
However, by earning a point the Canadiens (24-21-10, 58 points) locked up the NHL’s final Stanley Cup playoff berth — fourth place in the North Division — and will make their third postseason appearance in the past five seasons.
James Neal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Dominik Kahun potted goals for the Oilers (34-18-2, 70 points), who are 7-2-0 in their past nine games and own the division’s second playoff spot.
McDavid registered his NHL-best 69th assist and Leon Draisaitl had two — tying him for second at 51 with Chicago’s Patrick Kane.
After allowing four goals on the game’s first four shots Thursday night against Vancouver, Mikko Koskinen returned to the blue paint and made 25 saves on 28 shots.
The Canadiens’ third line of Paul Byron, Jake Evans and Artturi Lehkonen had a big night, primarily matched up against McDavid’s line.
Lehkonen (goal, two assists) and Evans (goal, two assists) notched three-point nights, and Byron posted a goal and an assist. Allen stopped 31 shots.
In the first period, Evans skated into the left circle with Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse on his shoulder, stopped on a dime and ripped his third tally of the season high over Koskinen on the glove side at 9:32.
The marker was Evans’ first in his last 41 games played. He last found the net in Vancouver on Jan. 21.
Neal matched it with his fifth from in close just 20 seconds later, with Ryan McLeod and Alex Chiasson providing noteworthy assists on the play.
McLeod’s helper represented his first NHL point, while Chiasson recorded career milestones in points (200) and assists (100) on the play.
Edmonton headed to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead after Nugent-Hopkins netted for the 15th time from the bottom of the left circle at 13:29.
Returning to the lineup after missing nine games, Byron backhanded home his fifth goal at 5:56 of the second, but Kahun regained the lead with his eighth after a pass from McDavid at 9:26.
In the third, Lehkonen’s sharp-angle snap shot tied the match 3-3 at 13:04 to force overtime.
The clubs wrap up the regular season in Wednesday afternoon’s finale in Montreal.
–Field Level Media