By Canadian Press

Connor McDavid shootout hero as Edmonton Oilers top Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2

Dec 17, 2016 | 9:00 PM

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers were glad to be on the winning end of an overtime game on Saturday for the first time in a while.

Connor McDavid scored the shootout winner as the Oilers emerged with a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Milan Lucic and Leon Draisaitl scored in regulation for the Oilers (16-12-5), who have won two of their last three games after dropping four straight, including two overtime losses and a shootout defeat.

“There are some areas that we need to improve on, but it is a win,” head coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s a comeback win. We’ve been on the other end of those lately, so it is nice to come back and tie one up in the third period and win in a shootout instead of being on the other end.”

“We did a good job I think in the whole game, not giving them too many chances,” added McDavid. “The ones they did get, they capitalized on. Good on us to come back and find a way to get two points.”

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Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson responded for the Lightning (15-14-3), who have lost two in a row and five of their last six.

“It’s better. It’s not where we want it to be, but still, I think tonight’s a great step in the right direction,” Drouin said.

Edmonton outshot the Lightning 11-5 in the scoreless first period, but the Bolts had the best chance midway through the opening frame when Oilers goalie Cam Talbot had to come up big on a short-handed breakaway by Alex Killorn.

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead four minutes into the second on the power play, as Draisaitl made a long pass through to Lucic, who rifled his ninth of the season past Lightning goalie Bishop.

The Lightning tied the game on a power play of their own with 1:01 to play in the second period as a Drouin shot through a ton of traffic hit Talbot and trickled into the Edmonton net.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead 2:35 into the third period as Cory Conacher threaded a pass through to Johnson on a two-on-one, and he beat Talbot for his ninth of the season.

Edmonton tied it up again with 13 minutes left on another power play as Draisaitl deflected a shot past Bishop for his 14th, eventually sending the game to the shootout.

“The penalty kill, we’ve got to step up as players,” Bishop said. “Enough is enough here. We’ve got to have more passion to kill these penalties because it’s starting to get almost embarrassing.”

The Oilers embark on a three-game trip, starting Monday in St. Louis. The Lightning return home to host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Notes: It was the first of two regular-season meetings between the two teams this season. The Lightning swept the series last season… Tampa Bay is still struggling through injuries to top players, with the likes of centre Steven Stamkos (knee) and forwards Ryan Callahan (lower body), Ondrej Palat (undisclosed) and Nikita Kucherov (lower body) still unavailable to play… Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera played his 600th career NHL game on Saturday.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press