Connor McDavid gets first hat trick, Oilers win

DALLAS-- Connor McDavid scored his first NHL hat trick, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars 5-2 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
McDavid went 10 games without a goal before he scored in each period.
"Three pretty lucky goals," McDavid said. "It's a funny league that that way. You get Grade A chances and they're not going in, then you start putting it there and they are going in. It's weird that way. Definitely happy to get off that slump."

WATCH: All Oilers vs. Stars highlights
Jesse Puljujarvi and Anton Slepyshev each had two assists, and Cam Talbot made 31 saves for Edmonton (10-8-1), which ended a five-game losing streak.
McDavid scored his first at 2:57 of the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. He was trying to make a centering pass when it went off the stick of Stars defenseman John Klingberg and past goalie Kari Lehtonen.
"The shot that went in got him going early," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "That's the type of break he needed. He probably hasn't had any breaks, he's probably had better chances. That's not the type of guy that you want to get going. He got the break early."
Matt Hendricks and Drake Caggiula, each playing his first NHL game this season, helped Edmonton take a 2-0 lead with assists when Tyler Pitlick scored at 11:36 of the first period. Caggiula was making his NHL debut.
Oscar Klefbom scored his second goal of the season at 5:21 of the second period on another shot that bounced off a Stars defenseman. Klefbom's point shot hit Patrik Nemeth's skate and went into the net for a 3-0 lead.

McDavid scored his second at 6:17 of the second on a rebound to give Edmonton a 4-0 lead.
Dallas (7-7-5) scored twice after Oilers forward Zack Kassian was given minor penalties for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Patrick Eaves scored on the power-play at 15:37 of the second period to make it 4-1. The unassisted goal extended his NHL career-best five-game goal streak.
Jamie Benn scored at 16:47 when he tipped Klingberg's point shot past Talbot to make it 4-2.
McDavid completed the hat trick at 6:51 of the third period when he scored on a rebound for a 5-2 lead.
"It's puck luck," McDavid said. "You hang around the net and good stuff happens. I guess that's all that is."

Goal of the game

It will likely be one of the easiest goals McDavid scores this season, but his first-period goal off Klingberg's stick broke his drought and gave Edmonton an early lead.
"Just kind of a relief I guess. I didn't really put too much into [the drought] anyway. Definitely feels [good] to get that out of the way," McDavid said. "We haven't scored the first goal in a long time. To play with the lead as opposed to coming from behind is a lot easier. It was good for our group to get an early one."

Save of the game

Talbot made his toughest save 33 seconds into the third period on Tyler Seguin. Jamie Benn and Jordie Benn entered the zone on a quick passing play before Talbot slid from left to right and stopped Seguin's shot with his right pad.

Highlight of the game

McDavid completed his first NHL hat trick on a rebound that went right to him and he easily scored past Antti Niemi on the stick side.

Unsung moment of the game

Edmonton got reinforcements when Caggiula and Hendricks returned from injury and made their season debut. Caggiula and Pitlick skated in 2-on-1 and Pitlick scored after defenseman Stephen Johns left his feet and didn't take away the pass.
"That was big," Caggiula said. "Sometimes it's harder if the guy just stays up and forces you to make a decision. But when he slides like that, and it's that open, it's easy to make the pass and let the guy finish."

They said it

"The start was important for us to get our legs underneath us, because obviously we weren't an overly confident team coming into it. But Connor, captain, leader, played a [heck] of game. Stepped up and laid it on the line and everyone else followed." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan on Connor McDavid's first goal
"There was times he really skated well. I think it's going to be a little bit of time. I thought Cody [Eakin] had a little bit of a drop-off. I saw him in the training room in between periods. Like I said, it's going to be a little bit up and down, and that's why I kind of mixed the lines and tried to find who was doing the best." -- Stars coach Lindy Ruff on Patrick Sharp's return to the lineup

Need to know

McDavid last scored Oct. 28 against the Vancouver Canucks; he has eight goals this season. … Caggiula, Hendricks and defenseman Kris Russell were taken off injured reserve and joined the Oilers lineup. … Forward Patrick Sharp played 18:36 in his first game since sustaining a concussion on Oct. 20 against the Los Angeles Kings. .. Lehtonen stopped nine of 13 shots before Niemi stopped 15 of 16.

What's next

Oilers: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SN, SN1, CSH-CH, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Minnesota Wild on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, FS-N, NHL.TV)