Connor McDavid scored and added an assist to extend his point streak to 17 games, and the Edmonton Oilers used a four-goal first period to beat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Saturday night.
McDavid, with at least one point in every game and 32 points overall, waited all of 10 minutes, 16 seconds into the contest before notching his 12th goal and extending a point streak that’s tied for eighth longest in NHL history to begin a season.
Tyson Barrie, Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan McLeod also scored in the first period for the Western Conference-leading Oilers, who have won 13 of their first 17.
Leon Draisaitl scored Edmonton’s second short-handed goal of the night with 3:32 left in the game and added an assist. Rookie Stuart Skinner stopped 28 shots for the Oilers, who have won five straight at home.
Alex DeBrincat (11 goals) scored twice for Chicago, which had won four in a row. After being hung out to dry often in the first period, Blackhawks goaltender Kevin Lankinen regrouped to make 28 saves.
The Oilers struck first when they stepped up the forecheck in Chicago’s zone. Evan Bouchard blasted a shot from inside the blue line and McDavid worked his way in front of the net, won the puck and converted.
Just 1:13 later with Edmonton on a 5-on-3 advantage, McDavid and Draisaitl picked up assists on Barrie’s wide-open drive past Lankinen.
With the Blackhawks on the power play, Chicago’s Seth Jones dropped a behind-the-back pass in his own zone, only to be picked off by Yamamoto. He promptly banged his clear shot by an unprepared Lankinen for a 3-0 Edmonton lead with 4:44 left in the first.
McLeod then took advantage of a defensive breakdown in front of Lankinen, and easily slipped in a backhander off a pass from Warren Foegele with 1:28 to go in the opening frame.
The Blackhawks, though, capped the scoring in that wild first period when DeBrincat deflected in Kirby Dach’s shot with 19.3 seconds remaining.
DeBrincat’s second goal came off a 2-on-none with 11 minutes left in regulation.
–Field Level Media
