The Edmonton Oilers certainly gave themselves enough chances to score on Saturday and took advantage in a come-from-behind victory. They now aim for their first winning streak of the month on Tuesday night as they play host to the Los Angeles Kings.
Edmonton found itself down by three goals on two occasions against the Colorado Avalanche over the weekend, but thanks in part to a club-record 56 shots it battled back for a big 6-4 victory.
Ales Hemsky scored twice, including a momentum-shifting goal with just four seconds left in the first period, and Magnus Paajarvi netted the game-winner with 1:34 to play in the third period.
It was Paajarvi's second goal of the campaign and came after he was scheduled to be a healthy scratch for the contest before Lennart Petrell took a shot off his head in warmups.
"He was probably eating hot dogs already before the game when we pulled him in. He didn't have a warmup and he scores the winner," noted Oilers coach Ralph Krueger of Paajarvi.
Jordan Eberle had two goals, including an empty-netter, and an assist, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the first time in 25 games as the Oilers broke their previous single-game record for shots by one.
"You're going to get goals when you shoot the puck 50 times on net," Nugent- Hopkins said of his team's shooting barrage. "It's something that we want to keep working on."
Devan Dubnyk gave up three goals on 12 shots and was pulled after the first period. Nikolai Khabibulin allowed just one goal on 17 shots the rest of the way as Edmonton won for just the second time in eight contests and has now split the first two of a five-game homestand.
Petrell, meanwhile, is unlikely to play in this game as he was still dealing with a headache and slight dizziness according to Krueger on Monday.
The Kings, meanwhile, try to avoid a second straight setback after failing to secure a third straight win with Sunday's 3-2 setback to the Chicago Blackhawks. Los Angeles trailed for most of the game and didn't get on the board until Mike Richards scored a pair of power-play goals in the third.
"They really brought it to us in the beginning and we were a bit back on our heels," said Richards, who has four points in the last three games. "I thought we did a good job rallying there in the third, just fell a little short."
Drew Doughty assisted on both goals and Anze Kopitar also had a helper, giving him nine points in his last 10 games.
Making his first start in three games, Jonathan Quick posted 34 saves in the loss as the Kings fell to 3-5-1 on the road this season.
The Kings will be looking for some revenge on Tuesday after a heart-breaking 2-1 loss in Edmonton on Jan. 24. The Oilers' Nail Yakupov scored the game- tying goal with just five seconds left in regulation before Sam Gagner won it in overtime.
It was just Los Angeles' third loss in its last nine versus the Oilers and it has still won seven of the past nine played in Edmonton.
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