Korpikoski help Oilers outscore Rangers

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Korpikoski was drafted in the first round, 19th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. He originally played for TPS’ junior team in the SM-liiga before moving up to the main team for the 2004–05 season. He then played two seasons of professional hockey in Finland before joining the Rangers’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, after TPS’ 2005–06 season; he played five regular season games and 11 playoff games for Hartford for the team’s 2005–06 AHL season.

“It was probably a little reminiscent of the past,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. “At the end of the night, we are better defensively than that. I like the fact that we were resilient; we scored and we chased a real good goaltender. There were a lot of real good things there, but we have to be better defensively and we have to fix things.”

Hall’s game-winning goal came 12 seconds after New York’s Rick Nash tied the game 5-5 with a power-play goal at 18:14.

Off the ensuing faceoff, the Oilers came in 2-on-1 and Hall fired a pass from Leon Draisaitl past Antti Raanta, who replaced Henrik Lundqvist early in the third period, for his second goal of the game and 14th of the season. Hall also had two assists.

In 2006–07, Korpikoski had 11 goals and 38 points for the Wolf Pack, while in 2007–08, in his second year with the team, he bested his previous year’s totals, scoring 23 goals and having 50 points, also scoring two points in five Calder Cup playoff games. Following Hartford’s first round exit from the playoffs, Korpikoski was named to the Rangers’ reserves squad for the team’s 2008 Stanley Cup playoff run.

“At the end of the day we get a win,” Hall said. “You never want to give up five goals, but we scored more than them. It was a really fun atmosphere. We showed up to play and we beat a really good team.”

Korpikoski completed his hat trick by shooting the puck the length of the ice into the empty net with 37.7 seconds remaining.

The Oilers (13-15-2) have won five in a row and completed a 5-0-0 homestand. Teddy Purcell, and Darnell Nurse also scored, and goaltender Anders Nilsson made 28 saves to win his fifth consecutive game.

“It was a fun night for sure, it reminded me of one of those ’80s games where it was high scoring,” said Korpikoski, who began his NHL career with the Rangers in 2008. “The puck just seemed to follow me around tonight. It was one of those nights where everything was going in and I’m happy for getting the goals. It was one of those games where you didn’t know what was going to happen on the next shift. It was one of those games where it was goal after goal.”

Derick Brassard scored two goals for the Rangers (18-9-3), who have lost two in a row and are 2-6-1 in their past nine. Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider also scored. Lundqvist was pulled 2:40 into the third period after giving up five goals on 33 shots.

It was also the 1,00th NHL game for Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.

“If you give a team like that the time and space that we did, they are going to make you look silly in the end,” said Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who finished minus-4. “We have to be harder in the gaps and in the corner. We have to find a way to battle harder and right now, we just need to find a way to win a hockey game. We need to be right there with our checks and execution.”

Korpikoski scored the opening goal of the game 6:35 into the first period, jamming the puck past Lundqvist following a shot from Iiro Pakarinen. Zuccarello tied it at 12:16, taking a pass from Kreider in front of the net and firing the puck past Nilsson.

Korpikoski put the Oilers back in front at 15:47, lifting a shot over Lundqvist after the puck bounced to him in front. Purcell made it 3-1 at 16:57 when he took a drop pass from Hall in the slot and fired a shot over Lundqvist’s shoulder.

“It’s my job to clean up the mistakes,” Lundqvist said. “We had a tough start. They are a team that moves the puck really well and finds openings. We need to understand where goals are scored and that is in front of the net. But again, it is my responsibility to come up with that extra save and find a way to win hockey games. Right now we are finding ways to lose hockey games.”

Kreider beat Nilsson with a backhand shot 53 seconds into the second period to make it 3-2, and Brassard tied it at 8:44, floating a long wrist shot past Nilsson.

But Hall put the Oilers in front 18 seconds into the third period when he took a pass from Purcell and backhanded a shot past Lundqvist. Nurse ended Lundqvist’s night at 2:40, taking a pass from Hall in the slot and picking the bottom corner for his second of the season to give Edmonton a 5-3 lead.

“It was pretty back and forth, but it was good to see our team respond,” Nurse said. “Every time they scored, we seemed to find a way to come back. On my goal, Hall made a great play and I just buried my head and try to put it through the goalie and it went 5-hole.”

Derek Van Diest – NHL.com Correspondent

http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2015020432