DETROIT (AP) — Vladislav Namestnikov scored in each of the first two periods to help the Detroit Red Wings take a three-goal lead, and they went on to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Tuesday night.
The Oilers had won nine of their first 10 games for the first time in franchise history. They went 0 for 2 on the power play after becoming the first team since Pittsburgh in 2007 to open a season with a power-play goal in 10 straight games.
The Red Wings have won three in a row and their rebuilding efforts finally seem to be paying off.
Dylan Larkin put Detroit ahead 3-0 midway through the second period, rookie Moritz Seider had an empty-net goal Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 31 saves.
Jesse Puljujarvi scored on a breakaway with 34.2 seconds left in the second to pull the Oilers within two. The only other time Edmonton was trailing going into the third period, it lost to Philadelphia on Oct. 27.
Connor McDavid cut the deficit to one in the opening minute of the third, scoring for the ninth time this season. The two-time MVP has at least a point in all 11 games this season.
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 35 shots in his season debut, filling in for Mikko Koskinen on the first night of a five-game road trip.
Facing a team with some of the game’s greats, Namestnikov was the star of the show.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman drafted him with the No. 27 overall pick in 2011 when he was leading Tampa Bay’s front office and signed Namestnikov last year as a free agent. The Russian is producing this season, scoring seven goals after he had eight last season.
NOTES: Detroit RW Sam Gagner played in his 900th game. Edmonton drafted Gagner No. 6 overall in 2007 and he had 317 points with the Oilers in 542 games from 2007 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2020. ... McDavid is on his sixth point streak of at least 10 games, and just six players had at least that many before turning 25: Wayne Gretzky (14), Denis Savard (8), Pierre Turgeon (7), Mario Lemieux (7), Paul Coffey (7) and Mike Bossy (7). ... Red Wings D Gustav Lindstrom was in the lineup for the second straight game after being activated from IR. ... Skinner was recalled from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condo on Oct. 30 when Mike Smith went on IR. ... Namestnikov is the nephew of former Red Wings player Vyacheslav Kozlov and son of ex-NHL player Evgeny Namestnikov.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Play at Boston on Thursday night.
Red Wings: Host Washington on Thursday night.
