McDavid has 3 points, Oilers cruise past Rangers

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid had two goals and an assist for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-2 win against the New York Rangers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (11-9-2), who were 1-2-1 in their previous four games. Stuart Skinner made 32 saves.

“I think in the last five games, three of them we’ve scored four or more goals,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Tonight was one of those nights that we were able to put some pucks in the net, which feels good.

“We did it against a goalie that has been playing extremely well.”

Artemi Panarin scored twice for the Rangers (12-6-1), who have lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Jonathan Quick, who had shutouts in his previous two starts, made 34 saves.

“It was different tonight, it seemed like our heads were in it, but our game didn’t follow,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “The other night we just seemed to be flat, but I thought tonight, their rush, we didn’t handle the rush and the D-zone coverage, I don’t think we handled it well.

“We were pushed back on our heels, and you can’t win hockey games that way. We have to be cleaner and better and more detailed with teams coming into our end.”

Vasily Podkolzin scored his first goal of the season to put the Oilers ahead 1-0 at 17:34 of the first period. He scored on a give-and-go with Draisaitl in the slot, snapping a shot high glove side on Quick.

“Finally one went in for him,” Knoblauch said. “A nice shot. What was really nice about tonight was his parents have been here for about three weeks and tonight was their last night here.

“They’re leaving tomorrow, so it’s nice that they got to see that.”

Darnell Nurse scored short-handed with nine seconds left in the first period to make it 2-0. Mattias Janmark skated around the net and passed across to Nurse, who was left alone in the high slot.

Nurse returned to the lineup after missing three games following an illegal check to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves on Nov. 16.

“I pushed a little to be in, but with that said it's the brain. With head injuries you’re not going to go out there until you feel 100 percent,” Nurse said. “You want to be able to go out there and do your job and you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you’re setting yourself back months.

“They did a really good job taking care of it, there was a lot of work that went into it, but I felt very comfortable to go out there and play.”

The Oilers outshot the Rangers 21-9 in the first period.

“We’re leaving our goalies out to dry, in the first period especially,” Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. “And we have to come out with a lot more urgency and we have to dig deep here and look at ourselves in the mirror before the next game.”

Draisaitl made it 3-0 at 8:54 of the second period, scoring on a 2-on-1 with a pass back from McDavid that caught Quick sliding across his crease. It was Draisaitl’s third consecutive game with a goal.

Bouchard scored on a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Quick glove side to make it 4-0 at 11:58.

Panarin made it 4-1 at 15:02 when he sent a wrist shot from the left dot that bounced up off of Skinner’s pad, onto the shaft of his stick and into the net.

McDavid made it 5-1 at 5:49 of the third period, redirecting a backdoor pass from Bouchard past Quick’s stick.

McDavid then made it 6-1 at 9:37, winding around a sliding Victor Mancini and deking in on Quick before raising the puck into open net.

Panarin made it 6-2 at 16:29 with a wrist shot from the slot that deflected in off Nurse.

“You’re not just going to show up and just win games,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “We’ve been a good team for the last couple of years, so everybody is going to get up to play you. You’re not going to get teams that are not going to show up, everybody wants to get a win against us.”

NOTES: Fox extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists). ... McDavid has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past eight games. ... Draisaitl extended his goal streak to three games (three goals), and his point streak to three games (three goals, six assists).