The rookie sensation set the stage for the winning goal by driving hard toward the Jets goal late in the second period.
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The Oilers opened the scoring at 5:25 of the second period when Taylor Hall fed a pass from the corner to Patrick Maroon, who wristed a shot behind Pavelec for his sixth goal of the season, and second for Edmonton since being acquired from Anaheim at the deadline.
Winnipeg (27-33-5) lost for the fourth time in its past five games.
“We do owe Winnipeg a game”, said Bettman.
The Oilers moved out of the basement in the Western Conference ahead of Calgary and are tied with the Jets with 59 points. Ondrej Pavelec allowed two goals on 31 shots in the loss.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Scheifele tied it up 1-1 with his ninth goal in his last nine games 51 seconds after Maroon scored. “I had a pretty good angle at it. I thought it was definitely going in”. It has been a couple of years since the last Heritage Classic, a brawl between the Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators in 2013-14.
The Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers will play a regular-season game outdoors at Investors Group Field next October.
The NHL has put on 17 outdoor hockey games since the first Heritage Classic between the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in 2003.
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“The Oilers and the original Jets trace their roots to the old World Hockey Association and both entered the NHL as expansion franchises when the WHA folded”, Daly said, recalling Winnipeg’s WHA championship win over the Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers in the final playoff series of the league in 1979.
