McDavid, Oilers raising level of play

EDMONTON -- If it seemed like Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid's game had declined during what's been a disappointing season so far for the Oilers, it only was an illusion.
McDavid scored an NHL career-best four goals and had an assist, and his dazzling speed was a big factor in helping the Oilers win 6-2 against the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place on Monday.

The five-point game matched his previous NHL best, set in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 11, 2016. He's tied with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the NHL with 61 points (21 goals, 40 assists) in 51 games. He's five points behind the Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov's League-high 66 points.
\[RELATED: McDavid scores four goals in Oilers win against Lightning\]
"I just felt good all day, I had a good nap," said McDavid, who won the Art Ross Trophy with 100 points (40 goals, 60 assists) last season.
McDavid scored a first-period power play goal at 1:48 on a deflection, then scored at 2:33 of the second when he went wide with speed around Lightning forward Matthew Peca and threaded a high shot into a small space from a bad angle against goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
McDavid scored two more in the third. The first was at 6:55 on a breakaway after rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev fumbled the puck at the Oilers blueline, then at 13:49 he chopped a puck to the front of the net, where Lightning forward Chris Kunitz inadvertently kicked it in.

"He's playing at a very high, high level right now and the team is playing well around him," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said.
Kunitz said there are many similarities between two-time Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby, his former teammate with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and McDavid.
"They don't have a fear button," Kunitz said. "They don't go wide on guys, they take it right through the middle. They enjoy the contact almost. You just want to get them the puck as quick as you can. You just give it to him with time to skate with it.
"They want to be the best every single time they step on the ice. They're driven by more than just wins and points. They're driven by how they can change the game, or maybe it's the individual status of trying to be the best that's ever played the game."
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists Monday playing on a line with McDavid and Mike Cammalleri, and said McDavid earns everything he gets.
"When you are as good as he is, there is no such thing as luck," Draisaitl said. "You create your own bounces. He just has that ability to take a game over. There are very, very few players in this world who can do something like that.
"It seems like he is from another planet. It is not fair, really. He works hard and it is not just a given talent. He works on the stuff he wants to work on and that is what makes him so good."
McDavid has eight points (six goals, two assists) in the past three games and 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in the past seven, when Edmonton is 5-1-1.

The Oilers will try to parlay McDavid's elite play into a move up the standings when they begin a three-game road trip at the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV). The trip continues at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
The job ahead will not be easy. Edmonton has 50 points, 11 behind the third-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division, and 11 behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
But the Oilers play five of their next six games against Pacific Division teams, and the Oilers are 10-2-0 against the Pacific this season.
"The guys feel good," McDavid said about the 5-1-1 run. "There's still that one loss (5-0 against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 23) that's lingering. People are remembering that. It's causing us to keep going and moving forward and being ready to go every night. We don't have many nights to leave to chance."
Finding momentum has been one of the most difficult things for the Oilers this season.
Even their current seven-game run has been stretched across two extended breaks in the schedule.

It started with a 4-2 win at the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 12 and continued with a 3-2 overtime win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 13. Then came the five-day schedule break.
They came back with a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 20, then after the loss against the Sabres they won 4-3 in a shootout against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 25, which led into the All-Star break.
They lost 4-3 in overtime against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, but righted things against the Lightning on Monday.
"Every time we thought we've been (turning a corner), we kind of give it back," McLellan said. "Often … you feel good about your run. Right now it's been so spread out that you kind of forget about the early points.
"But it's a big week for us coming up, heading into California."