Oilers win in Woodcroft’s NHL coaching debut

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Jay Woodcroft came away with the win in his NHL coaching debut on Friday night. The Edmonton Oilers fired head coach Dave Tippett on Thursday and named Woodcroft the interim bench boss. Woodcroft became the fifth Oilers head coach to win in his NHL debut.

It was also an important victory for Mike Smith, who played in his best game of the season. He has been limited to just nine appearances in 2021-22 because of injuries. Smith had gone 0-4-1 in his previous six outings, while surrendering 25 goals on 179 shots. He gave up four or more goals in five contests during that span, while posting an .860 save percentage.

Connor McDavid also did his part in the 3-1 win with a pair of assists. He has 21 multi-point performances this season, which leads the league. McDavid, who is up to 40 helpers and 63 points in 44 games this year, led all skaters with 33 multi-point efforts last campaign.

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WINNIPEG 3 DALLAS 4 (OT)

The Stars have won two straight games coming out of the All-Star break.

Jason Robertson’s 20th goal of the season was the game winner 3:10 into the extra period. He is currently riding a four-game point streak.

Jamie Benn provided one goal and one assist for Dallas.

Mark Scheifele had one goal and one helper for Winnipeg. He tied the game at the 19:28 mark of the third period to get the Jets a point in the standings

Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jansen Harkins lit the lamp in the second period along with Dallas rookie Jacob Peterson, who has nine goals on the year, and Tyler Seguin.