GAME RECAP: Lightning 7, Oilers 4

EDMONTON, AB – The streak has been struck down.

Forward Steven Stamkos recorded four goals, while netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy made an impressive 53 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in a 7-4 victory at Rogers Place that put an end to the Edmonton Oilers’ league-leading win streak at eight games.

The Oilers came back from a two-goal deficit in the second period to take the lead off a shorthanded goal from Darnell Nurse and power-play tallies from Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman, but the Lightning scored three straight of their own and added two empty-netters in the final 20 minutes to hand Edmonton their first defeat since Nov. 22.

“Disappointed not to get the two points,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored his seventh goal of the season in the loss, said post-game. “I thought we worked all game and they obviously have some skilled players that when they get opportunities, they can make them count.”

Edmonton registered a club-record 57 shots on goal, but Vasilevskiy’s exceptional goaltending was a major factor in the Russian outduelling Stuart Skinner, who made 19 stops on 24 shots, and spelling an end to Edmonton’s eight-game winning run.

“He was obviously feeling it tonight, so I thought for the most part we played a solid game, but we gave up a couple too many goals,” Leon Draisaitl said. “I thought we were the better team and probably deserved to win, but it’s obviously not the way the league works.”

Evan Bouchard and McDavid each stretched their respective point streaks to 13 and 10 games with multi-point nights, while Hyman was able to build on his team-leading goal total by recording his 17th of the campaign in the defeat.

The Oilers fall to 13-13-1 and wrap up a lengthy six-game homestand on Saturday night against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place.