Leafs step it up to outlast the Oilers

You should never look a gift horse in the mouth, especially an NHL thoroughbred like Auston Matthews — you catch a break and it should be full gallop ahead.

But with Toronto's best weapon Matthews scratched with an upper-body issue and Jumbo Joe Thornton out with a busted rib, the Edmonton Oilers spit the bit with a 4-2 loss Friday night.

They got a terrific game from Connor Mcdavid, who played 25 minutes and had eight shots, but with Matthews out, Leafs' captain John Tavares picked up the slack with the winner on a power play tip of Mitch Marner's shot in the third as the Maple Leafs outlasted the Oilers.

So, no rinse and repeat for the Oilers, who tightened it up in a 3-1 win Wednesday, but didn't get back to .500. They're now

2-4 with two games in Winnipeg

Sunday and Tuesday to come before they probably see Matthews at Rogers Place next weekend. Then we can rev up the Mcdavid versus Matthews storyline with only eight career meetings.

While Leon Draisaitl got his seventh career short-handed goal, it wasn't enough for the Oilers as Tavares tipped a Mitch Marner shot past Mikko Koskinen in the third for the winner — his fourth of the year after only seven all of last season.

Marner added the last one into the empty net with half a second left.

Taxi-squader Adam Brooks, with his first NHL goal, got another on the PP, while the Oilers didn't get a sniff and are now 0-17 on the power play this season in their four losses.

Jimmy Vesey scored the other on Mikko Koskinen, who has played every minute of the first six games.

Trying to beat a team backto-back is a chore in the North division, although Montreal beat the Oilers two straight at Rogers Place last week.

“Once you win the first, the second becomes more of a challenge, you realize the other team is playing with more urgency,” said Oilers' coach Dave Tippett, with Darnell Nurse certainly on the same wavelength as his boss.

“You have to keep your foot on the gas pedal when you win the first.”

And the Oilers did, but Toronto didn't go quietly.

In the first minute of the third, Mcdavid tipped an Ethan Bear knuckler past Frederik Andersen from the high slot to tie it 2-2 — the captain's seventh shot of the night in his 16th minute on the ice.

After no goals in the first 25 minutes, the teams scored two in 43 seconds while Oiler centre Kyle Turris was in the penalty box for a hook. First, Kailer Yamamoto, always around the action, chased down a dump-in on the penalty-kill, and Draisaitl swept it past Andersen from the blue paint.

Then, Brooks, the former WHL scoring champion with the Regina Pats, got his first NHL goal in his eighth game when Jason Spezza's shot ripped off his skate just as the power play ended.

Five minutes later, Adam Larsson tried to clear but Alex Kerfoot stole it, and four steamboats later William Nylander faked a shot and fed Kerfoot's ex-harvard teammate Vesey, who swept it past a helpless Koskinen.

The Oilers made two lineup changes after Game 1, putting James Neal in on the fourth line for Alex Chiasson and Tyler Ennis on the third for Joakim Nygard, who went to the taxi squad.

Neal, who got COVID in December, just before he was leaving his off-season home in Nashville and had to quarantine there and in Edmonton when he crossed the border, played his first game with Devin Shore and Josh Archibald and also got some power play work that Chiasson had taken the first five games.

Neal, who has 85 career power play goals, with six in the first eight games last season, had one chance in the second off a Mcdavid pass but couldn't jam it past Andersen. He was also on the ice for an extra attacker in the last minute.

This 'n' that: The last time Matthews, who leads the NHL in shots with 27, missed a game because of medical issues was three years ago, February of 2018. He had a bad shoulder back then. He played 24 minutes in

Game 1 of the back-to-back … Oilers winger Josh Archibald is a hitter for a small package. He was the one who hit Jumbo

Joe in Game 1 of the series. Archibald is 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds. Thornton, No. 8 in all-time games played (1,641) is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. Archibald is second in the NHL in hits (22) … Oilers sat Caleb Jones for a third straight game on defence … With Neal back on the 23-man roster, Nygard returned to the taxi-squad because he has already cleared waivers, unlike Chiasson, his first scratch — or young defenceman William Lagesson, No. 8 on the depth chart. There's only a 30-day window with waivers if a player clears, however. After that, moving back and forth requires waivers … The Oilers took goalie Olivier Rodrigue off to get Nygard onto the taxi squad. Rodrigue, just back from playing in Austria, will report to Bakersfield for their Jan. 25 camp opening. The Condors 40-game AHL schedule opens Feb. 5-6 in San Diego … The

Leafs brought Pierre Engvall in off the taxi squad for Thornton. He's a powerful skater and had a strong first game, but he's left the coaching staff wanting because he doesn't bring it every night.