McDavid scores his first NHL postseason hat trick for Oilers in Game 2

Connor McDavid scored his first NHL postseason hat trick for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, a 6-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place on Monday.

McDavid scored at 19 seconds and 4:05 of the first period, and with 2:50 remaining in the second when he skated around two Blackhawks defenders to give Edmonton a 4-3 lead.

"You never plan to score on the first shift, but we wanted to have a good start and make sure we were in their zone and we found a way to get one, and that was good," McDavid said. "Our work ethic, [we] kept it very simple. It sounds all very cliché but it's all stuff we didn't do in Game 1 (a 6-4 loss on Saturday), we did tonight and it was good."

The Oilers evened the best-of-5 series after losing Game 1 6-4 on Saturday in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city. Game 3 is there on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, NBCSCH). The series winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It's pretty spectacular what he can do with that speed," Oilers defenseman Ethan Bear said. "Top-end player, maybe the best in this league. He does that all the time in practice, so it's no surprise. But when he steps up like that, it really gives us extra confidence. He prepares every game pretty similar. He's a pretty focused guy. He's always ready to go, takes care of himself away from the rink, so it's no surprise."

McDavid has four goals in the series and nine in 15 NHL postseason games. It was his first multigoal postseason game.

"Those first two goals are both really strong goals, sends a really strong message to our team that he was here to play," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "Tonight, we came out with determination. Connor was a big part of that, showing the way early."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had an assist on each of McDavid's goals.

NHL.com staff writer David Satriano contributed to this report