McDavid, Oilers defeat Bedard, Blackhawks for 8th straight win

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 10 games with two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in their eighth straight win, 4-1 against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

McDavid has 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) during his run.

Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, scored for Chicago in his first game against McDavid, the top selection in 2015. The goal extended Bedard’s road point streak to 10 games (14 points; nine goals, five assists), the second-longest in NHL history by a player age 18 or younger behind Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (16 games, 2013-14).

“The first [period] was not bad, but when you kind of keep it a track meet against them, it’s obviously hard with those guys,” Bedard said. “We created a bit and I thought it wasn’t terrible, but definitely some things to clean up.

“They have the top two players in the world (McDavid, Leon Draisaitl) and maybe you calm it down a little bit more and not give as many rush chances.”

Evan Bouchard extended his point streak to 12 games with two assists, Sam Gagner had a goal and an assist, and Stuart Skinner made 22 saves for the Oilers (13-12-1), who are on their longest winning streak since a franchise-record-tying nine-game run to close the 2022-23 regular season.

“Any time you win it is fun, and it is fun doing it the right way, with the goals-against and limiting chances and things like that,” Edmonton forward Zach Hyman said. “That’s the key to success and [it’s] something we have harped on and is the reason we are on this little run.”

Petr Mrazek made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (9-18-1), who have lost their past seven road games.

“It [stinks] because it stings losing, and losing 4-1, it seems like we might have gotten dominated,” Chicago forward Jason Dickinson said. “But I really didn’t feel like we were.”

Bedard gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 3:21 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle after a stretch pass from Alex Vlasic.

“You watch it on video lots because any time you open Instagram, it’s the first thing that comes up, his shot,” Skinner said. “He made a nice move, it was a very nice shot. Give the kid his props.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied it 1-1 at 9:58. He took a pass off the left wing from McDavid and roofed a shot over Mrazek, extending McDavid’s and Bouchard’s point streaks.

Bouchard has 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) during his 12-game point streak, which is tied with MacKinnon for the longest active run in the NHL.

Gagner gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead at 18:19, one-timing Derek Ryan’s feed from behind the net at the near post.

Draisaitl made it 3-1 at 13:22 of the second period when his attempted cross-ice feed from the right wing hit Chicago defenseman Nikita Zaitsev in front and trickled past Mrazek.

“Draisaitl’s a great player and he gets some of those bounces sometimes,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “He zips that hard, too, he doesn’t float the saucer over there, otherwise that’s just knocked down. He zings it, and if Zaitsev doesn’t get his stick on it, maybe it’s a backdoor chance.

“So, unfortunately, he had to put his stick there. It surprised Petr and there’s no chance for Petr then.”

The Oilers outshot the Blackhawks 14-5 in the second.

“I don’t think we were solid defensively in the first period,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “In the second and third, I thought we were very solid. It was just one of those games where we weren’t quite ready to play.

“It’s tough. Chicago is not having the best start to the season and they also had a lot of injuries, which makes it really tough.”

Hyman scored on a power play 43 seconds into the third period, redirecting McDavid’s feed for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: It’s the 13th time McDavid has had a double-digit point streak in his NHL career. He is the fifth player in NHL history to have done so 13 times, joining Wayne Gretzky (31), Guy Lafleur (15), Mario Lemieux (14) and Marcel Dionne (13) … Bouchard’s point streak is the second-longest by a defenseman in Oilers history (Paul Coffey, 28 games, 1985-86). … Nugent-Hopkins extended his point streak to four games (seven points; one goal, six assists); Draisaitl has a three-game point streak (four points; two goals, two assists). … The Blackhawks were without defenseman Seth Jones because of an upper-body injury. … Bedard has five game-opening goals this season, tied with Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Buffalo Sabres forward JJ Peterka for the NHL lead.