Dineen scores in OT as Oilers beat Jets 3-2 – Edmonton

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was pleased with his team’s start to practice, especially since none of his players played with the club during Sunday’s lengthy playoff series.

Defenceman Cam Dineen scored the winning goal in overtime and added an assist, helping the Oilers open their NHL preseason with a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

Sam O’Reilly and Raphael Lavoie also scored for the Oilers (1-0), who were fresh off their devastating Game 7 Stanley Cup Final loss to the Florida Panthers.

“A lot of guys played really well,” Knoblauch said. “The defensive corps, all six of them played really well, clearly highlighted by Dineen.

“I can go through the lineup and I thought a lot of the guys played really well.”

O’Reilly made a strong first impression with his first goal, and the Oilers traded him for the 32nd overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft.

“I tried to come in with a good mindset, stay positive and stay true to myself and what I’m doing, but when you go out there and see all those people, you get a little nervous,” O’Reilly said. “But you just have to shake it off and just play hockey.

“It gave me confidence to score that first goal quite early. It feels good and I’ll try to build on that.”

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David Gustafsson and Dominic Toninato scored for the Jets, who moved to an 0-1-1 draw in the exhibition game.

“Both teams had some younger lineups and that’s great for them. We saw last night that we had six or seven players that had never played in an NHL game and it’s great for them to do that,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said.

“It was sloppy at times, the execution wasn’t good at times, but in the end it came down to overtime for the fans and it was fun.”

Winnipeg scored its first shot of the game after just 17 seconds, when Gustafsson tipped a Logan Stanley point shot past Oilers goalie Olivier Rodrigue.

The Oilers also scored on their first shot of the game. O’Reilly took a long pass from Dineen and split the defense up the middle before passing Jets starter Eric Comrie. The goal came 3:23 into the first half.

In the first 20 minutes, Edmonton was only 6-4.

Collin Delia, who spent last season with the Jets’ AHL affiliate, Manitoba Moose, entered the Edmonton net midway through the second half to replace Rodrigue.

There was no scoring in the second period and Edmonton led 19-9 on the shot clock going into the third period.

Edmonton finally broke the deadlock on a power play midway through the third period when Lavoie fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Comrie.

That lead lasted only 10 seconds, however, as the Jets tied the score when Kevin He passed the puck to Toninato, who fired the puck past Delia, sending the game into overtime.

Edmonton scored the winning goal 1:17 into overtime after Vasily Podkolzin landed a hard hit that created a two-on-one situation. Dineen dragged the puck across the ice before crossing and firing a shot past Comrie.

NOTES

Both teams fielded rosters with extremely little NHL experience, with most players spending all or most of last season in the AHL. … A pair of veterans on the Oilers’ roster were both players with personal tryout offers, forward Mike Hoffman and defenceman Travis Dermott. … The Jets were playing for the second straight night after losing 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in the Manitoba capital. Kaapo Kahkonen saved 23 shots in the loss in his Jets debut. … Comrie, an Edmonton native, was making his first start in a Jets jersey since May 1, 2022, when he auditioned for a reserve role with the team. “I just want to compete as hard as I can,” Comrie said. “The special word here is compete, and I want to make sure I compete as hard as I can and do what I can to make the (reserve) decision as difficult as possible (for coaches).”

NEXT

Oilers: Play home and away games against the Calgary Flames on Monday.

Jets: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

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