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EDMONTON — Connor McDavid’s goal-scoring streak has reached legendary status.
McDavid had two goals and an assist for his fifth consecutive multi-goal game as the Edmonton Oilers earned a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
McDavid became the fifth player in NHL history to score such a run. Jo Malone (1921), Punch Broadbent (1922), Alexander Mogilny (1993) and Mario Lemieux (1989) are the others.
“Sometimes it just kicks in,” McDavid said of his recent run. “I felt like I was playing good hockey before and it wasn’t going for me. You get the bounce and it looks like it goes for you. It’s a weird game.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said, “He’s coming at a certain level of speed on teams that get past him.” “He’s ready to shoot through traffic. He gets into tough areas to score. He played great tonight.
Zach Hyman, Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin also scored for the Oilers (33-21-8), who halted a two-game skid.
Stuart Skinner made 26 saves.
Woodcroft, who on Wednesday set a franchise record for most wins in his first 100 games as head coach with 59, said he’s seen good things in the past few games against tough teams — including a league-leading 3- Defeat from 2 is included. Boston Bruins on Monday.
“We are headed in the right direction after Christmas,” he said. “We played the game the right way this week at home against the two best teams in the league. Part of it is offensive, part of it is defensive, and we got contributions from everybody tonight.
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The Oilers have gone 12-4-6 in their last 22 contests.
David Kampf and Mitch Marner answered for the Maple Leafs (37-16-8), whose two-game winning streak was halted.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 27 of 32 shots.
Toronto forward John Tavares said, “We didn’t get off to a great start, obviously, letting our best guys take the lead and taking chances from the crowd.” “They defended tough, played us tough and we weren’t at the level we should have been.”
Marner said he had trouble with the Oilers’ offensive skills.
“We wanted to try and keep these guys out of the middle and didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “We give them freedom, speed and space through that neutral zone and they can make you pay for it and they did.”
McDavid opened the scoring on the power play 3:49 into the first period. Samsonov missed the rebound on a Leon Draysatel shot that went to McDavid, who fired it home.
Toronto even pulled away on a bizarre goal 12:15 into the opening frame. Edmonton defenseman Cody Ceci effectively stopped play after thinking that a sequence was offside, allowing Marner to send in front of Kampf, who beat Skinner to left in the seventh.
But the Oilers got the goal back 1:38 later as McDavid danced around a defender and found the bottom corner for his league-leading 52nd goal. It was his 10th goal in the last five matches.
Hyman made it 3–1 with 1:55 to play in the first. He picked up a huge rebound off a Mattias Ekholm shot and scored on a long shot with Samsonov going the other way. It was Hyman’s career best 29th goal coming against his former team.
Sessi made up for his first 8:46 in the second period as his point shot was fouled by Yamamoto from his sixth.
The Oilers found themselves even further away with 2:48 left in the second. Ryan McLeod made a perfect feed to Kostin on a 2-on-1 and he picked up his 10th of the season.
Marner cut the deficit to 1:08 in the final frame when he beat Skinner with a wrist shot on the power play.
It looked as though Edmonton responded quickly with another power-play marker by Warren Fogele, but a loud whistle disallowed the goal.
notes
Ekholm, acquired in a blockbuster deal between Edmonton and the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, makes the Oilers’ debut. … Defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty both played their first games as Maple Leafs after coming to an agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks, one of several trades Toronto has made recently. Defenseman Luke Schenn joined the Leafs in Edmonton after being acquired in a deal with Vancouver, but did not dress. Fellow blueliner Erik Gustafsson, acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals, will join the team in Calgary on Thursday. … Toronto’s William Nylander suited up for his 500th career game. … The Maple Leafs had won their previous four games in Edmonton, outscoring the Oilers 18-2.
next
The Maple Leafs head out to Calgary for the third of a five-game road trip to face the Flames on Thursday.
The Oilers kick off a three-game homestand against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 1, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press