BLOG: McDavid hits milestone with six-assist night

EDMONTON, AB – Gretzky. Lemieux. Orr. McDavid.

The Oilers captain further cemented his status as one the NHL's all-time greats on Tuesday, becoming the fourth fastest player to reach 600 career assists, doing so in his 616th game. The Great One needed just 416 games, Super Mario did it in 514, and the legendary blueliner required 608.

And in true McDavid style, he hit the milestone as part of a sensational six-assist performance in an 8-4 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings. It was his first-ever six-helper game and second-career six-point night – with all six of Tuesday's assists recorded at even strength.

"His stat sheet says it all," Head Coach Kris Knobaluch said of the historic individual performance. "Six assists, plus six, no power-play time. And he was skating. He was one of the few guys that was skating for a full 60 minutes and the plays that he made tonight were pretty phenomenal. If he's not on top of his game, we're probably not winning that one."

For just the fourth time in his last 36 games, McDavid was held off the score sheet in Edmonton's previous game on Saturday in Los Angeles as they were shut out 4-0 by the rival Kings.

Teammate Cody Ceci, who had a goal and an assist in Tuesday's 8-4 win, said he figured the loss to end the road trip played a factor in McDavid's offensive outburst vs. Detroit.

"He won us the game," said the blueliner. "I think he was a little mad that he got shut out last game and it showed tonight. He came out with some fire and played unbelievable. I'd never seen that before."

Despite the lopsided final score, Tuesday's game was tied 3-3 heading into the third period before Dylan Holloway started the Oilers outburst as they scored five of the final six goals. McDavid assisted on Holloway's diving display, as well as on a pair of goals by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and one from Evander Kane in the five-tally final frame.

"You can only dream of a game like that," Holloway said. "It's pretty incredible. It's fun to watch. He deserves it too. He brings it every day in practice, brings it every game. He had a great game tonight."

McDavid is now tied with Boston's David Pastrnak for third in the NHL scoring race with 77 points – 13 behind Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov – but his 1.64 points per game is second-best in the league behind Kucherov's 1.70.

The Oilers open a three-game Central Division road trip on Thursday against the St. Louis Blues.