Connor McDavid's bank-shot goal sets up sensational finish against Islanders

For 58 minutes it was a story in search of a hero.

A movie without a plot.

Then as time ran out on the clock, Connor McDavid swooped in on goal and banked the puck in off the goalie's mask.

Suddenly the score was tied and the game was truly on.

What followed was five minutes of sensational overtime and a heart-stopping shoot out that will be remembered as some of the most exciting hockey played at Rogers Place in years.

The Edmonton Oilers won the game 2-1.

But it was how they won, and who won it for them, that fans will talk about for some time to come.

Overtime was five minutes of fun 

The overtime period against the New York Islanders was everything the NHL had in mind when the rules were changed to allow for three-on-three hockey.

The Oilers, as they usually do, sent out McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Oscar Klefbom, and the trio almost won it in the first 30 seconds. Klefbom, the overtime hero on Monday night against Arizona, had a similar opportunity on Thursday but was stopped on a close-in chance by Islanders goaltender Christopher Gibson.

The teams went back and forth, strength on strength, trading scoring chances. McDavid had several himself.

With exactly two minutes left, the Oilers captain broke in on net for the umpteenth time of the night and was hooked by Islanders rookie Mathew Barzal. The referee awarded a penalty shot.

McDavid picked up the puck off the centre dot and veered way over toward the right-side boards. He came at the net from a wide angle, closed fast and beat Gibson. But the puck clanked off the post.

In all, the Oilers had six shots in overtime. But the extra period settled nothing.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened the shootout with a goal. Jordan Eberle matched him.

Draisaitl was stopped on his chance. So was Anthony Beauvillier.

Over the boards came McDavid.

He picked up the puck and again drifted over near the boards. At the top of the circle he stopped skating and coasted with his feet wide apart. His stick handling took over. As he closed in he made one big feint at the net, and Gibson went down. McDavid shifted hard to his left, sliding seven feet laterally across the top of the blue paint in the blink of an eye. The astonishing move left Gibson sprawled and helpless. McDavid fired the puck into the net.

The Oilers won the game a second later when goalie Cam Talbot stopped Islanders captain John Tavares at the other end.

An exciting end to a game that for the most part was anything but.

The first two periods were yawners

Call the first two periods humdrum and humdrummer, because for the first 40 minutes the Oilers and Islanders accomplished almost nothing.

Maybe that's what happens when two not very good teams get together, particularly if one has no chance of making the playoffs and the other is mired in an ugly slump.

If much of the night was spent in search of a hero, for Oilers fans the villain had the decency to show up on time. Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck took on that role after he dished out a nasty cross-check in the first period. Minutes later, he found himself flailing away in a fight with Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira.

The part of the once-loyal sidekick now running with the wrong gang was played by Eberle, who was traded from the Oilers to the Islanders last summer.

The Islanders winger got a nice welcome back on the huge scoreboard in the first period, and a warm standing ovation from the fans.

How boring were the first two periods? Let's put it this way: one of the biggest buzzes from the crowd came when Islanders defenceman Thomas Hickey put a shoulder into Milan Lucic and sent the big guy skates over skivvies. It's rare to see Lucic on the receiving end of a hit that hard.

Two minutes into the third period, Lucic was again the centre of attention when he coughed up the puck to an Islanders fore checker. Seconds later Hickey scored to put the Islanders up 1-0. And there things stayed until late in the period, when McDavid made the bank shot that set off an electrifying chain of events.

McDavid was on the ice for 27:27 on Thursday. He scored one goal - his career high 31st of the season - and had nine shots on net.

The game found its hero. The hero wrote the plot.