McDavid scores twice again, Oilers ease past Maple Leafs

EDMONTON --Connor McDavid scored two goals for the fifth consecutive game, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

McDavid, who also had an assist, is the fifth player in NHL history to have a multigoal streak of at least five games, joining Alexander Mogilny (five in 1992-93), Mario Lemieux (five in 1988-89), Punch Broadbent (six in 1921-22) and Joe Malone (six in 1920-21).
"Sometimes it just goes in," McDavid said. "I felt like I was playing good hockey before and it just wasn't going in for me. You kind of get a bounce and it seems to go in for you. It is a funny game that way."
Zach Hyman and Klim Kostin each had a goal and an assist, and Stuart Skinner made 26 saves for the Oilers (33-21-8), who had lost two straight.
"I think we've been trending in the right direction post-Christmas," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Against two of the best teams in the League this week at home (they lost 3-2 to the Boston Bruins on Monday) I think we played the right way, and part of that is offensively and part of that is defensively, and we got contributions from everybody who played tonight."

Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (37-16-8), who had won three in a row. Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves.
"We wanted to try and keep them out of the middle and didn't do a great job of that tonight," Marner said. "We let them have the freedom, speed and space through that neutral zone, and they can make you pay for it, and they did."
McDavid gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on a power play at 3:49 of the first period when he lifted in the rebound of Leon Draisaitl's one-timer.
David Kampf tied it 1-1 at 12:15, scoring glove side from the slot after Marner took the puck away from Cody Ceci along the boards.
McDavid put Edmonton back in front 2-1 at 13:53 on an individual rush following a turnover in the neutral zone. He skated into the high slot, cut to the outside on Timothy Liljegren, and scored five-hole from the left circle.
McDavid has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) during an eight-game point streak.
"I think at this level we all have an understanding of what you have to bring to the table and the level of execution, especially when you're playing the No. 1 offensive team in the League and with the type of year [McDavid] is having," Toronto forward John Tavares said. "We just didn't do a good enough job, especially early, taking care of things in the neutral zone. [McDavid] got going with a power-play goal, and he's been hot all year. Especially in the last number of games, he's been putting the puck in the net. We didn't make it more difficult gaining entry into our zone and earning offense that way."

Hyman made it 3-1 at 18:05 of the first. He scored from the high slot after his initial attempt was blocked by Morgan Rielly.
Kailer Yamamoto pushed it to 4-1 at 8:46 of the second period, redirecting a shot from Ceci, and Kostin made it 5-1 at 17:12 with a one-timer off a cross-slot pass from Ryan McLeod.
Marner cut it to 5-2 at 1:08 of the third period with a shot through a screen from the right circle for a power-play goal.
"We just didn't play with any purpose or intelligence," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "To me, our opponent tonight was very focused and very committed to playing together to win the game. I thought our guys started fine, but just the way we started the penalty kill … we get our first zone exit and we give it right back. We're not serious about winning when that's the case."
NOTES:Draisaitl extended his point streak to 10 games (seven games, seven assists). … Rielly played in his 700th NHL game … Defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty made their Maple Leafs debut after being acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. McCabe had two shots and two hits in 20:59 of ice time. Lafferty had one shot in 11:56. … Mattias Ekholm made his Oilers debut after being acquired from the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. He had an assist and was plus-2 in 20:50 of ice time.