McDavid ends goal drought with OT winner, Oilers defeat Blues

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid scored with 26 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

McDavid, who also had two assists, skated through the neutral zone and into the bottom of the left circle before scoring with a shot that hit off the left shoulder of Jordan Binnington and fluttered into the net.

“I was pretty tired, [Mattias Ekholm] was pretty tired,” McDavid said. “I kept giving it back to him and I felt bad for him, he was just trying to get off the ice.

“He kind of gave it to me there and I just tried to give it one last dash. There was not much going on that play, I just tried to get it to the net somehow and fortunately that went in.”

It was McDavid's first goal since Feb. 6 (11 games). He also extended his point streak to nine games (one goal, 22 assists).

“The timing was excellent,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He’s been doing everything but scoring, and he’s been on the score sheet two, three times almost every single night through that stretch.

“And wow, what a goal he provided in overtime.”

Zach Hyman scored two goals, including his 40th of the season, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two assists for the Oilers (35-20-2), who won the final two games of a five-game homestand (2-2-1). Stuart Skinner made 32 saves.

“I mean, I play with the best player in the world, so I'm very fortunate and very aware that I'm pretty lucky,” Hyman said. “Obviously, one of the big reasons I chose to come here was to have the opportunity to play with Connor.

“I just keep trying to get open, and you (media) guys are on him for not scoring, but it's because he's making those plays, and I'm the benefactor. He’s a generational player.”

Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Kyrou had two assists for the Blues (30-26-3), who were coming off a 4-2 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and are 1-4-1 in their past six games. Binnington made 32 saves.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the loss. We felt we deserved better in that game, playing back-to-back with our travel,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “I loved the effort of our guys. I thought we dug in here tonight. I was disappointed for the guys that we weren’t able to get the win, but a lot of positives we can take from that game moving forward."

Thomas scored on the first shot of the game to give the Blues a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period. He beat Skinner blocker side with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle on the power play.

“Tough back-to-back for us, getting in late and playing a team that is so fast and dynamic,” Thomas said. “I think we did a really good job. I don’t think we can be upset with ourselves, we were in that game right to the end. We did a ton of good things and had our chances. I’m very happy with our effort.”

Pavel Buchnevich made it 2-0 at 4:49, receiving a pass from Kyrou from behind the net and scoring with a one-timer off the left shoulder of Skinner.

“The start was really good," Bannister said. "I thought we were direct, got to the goal line quick, worked off the cycle and created some chances.”

Hyman cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 18:16, corralling a centering pass by McDavid and putting in a backhand from the edge of the crease.

Hyman then tied it 2-2 at 4:54 of the second period when he tapped in a pass from McDavid on a 2-on-1 for his 40th. Hyman has eight goals during a six-game goal streak.

“I’m so happy for him. He is a guy who brings it every single day with a positive attitude and a smile on his face,” McDavid said. “Even when things aren’t going well, he shows up and is the same every day.

“It is great to see him get rewarded. He has been playing great this year. He’s banging in goals left, right and center. It has been great for our team.”

NOTES: McDavid has had two assists in six straight games. It is the 10th time in NHL history that a player has had a multiassist streak of at least six games, and the first since Steven Stamkos in 2021-22 (six games). The NHL record is eight games, set by Wayne Gretzky in 1984-85. ... McDavid also extended his home point streak to 24 games (13 goals, 44 assists). ... Thomas has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in his past 10 games.