GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Ducks 1

EDMONTON, AB – Connor McDavid recorded two goals and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers dominated the Anaheim Ducks in a 6-1 win at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon, adding two more important points to their totals in the Pacific Division standings with their third consecutive victory.

The Oilers captain recorded points No. 123, 124 and 125 of his season, temprarily passing Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon for the League lead in points with another multi-point afternoon, but defenceman Mattias Ekholm earned the first-star honours with a goal and two assists to extend his personal points streak to five games in the victory.

"It's a position I've been in many times before, and we're playing for things bigger than that," McDavid said. "We're playing to make sure our game is in order and we're still playing for positioning. There's lots of hockey left, ten games left, and you never know what could happen coming down the stretch and we'll see what happens."

Leon Draisaitl contributed two helpers along with Evan Bouchard and Vincent Desharnais, while netminder Calvin Pickard finished with 21 saves on 22 shots after having his shutout bid ended by Alex Killorn on a power play late in the third period.

Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick both found the scoresheet against their former team, recording a goal and an assist respectively in the win that moves Edmonton to 45-23-4 on the season with 94 points – four back of the Pacific-leading Vancouver Canucks with 10 games left in their regular season.

"There's still lots to play for in these ten games," McDavid said. "Vegas and LA are still close behind and playing for home ice... so we've got to win our games. That's all we've got to do. We have to keep building our game."

The Blue & Orange now hit the road for two games beginning Monday night at Enterprise Center against the playoff-chasing St. Louis Blues.

FIRST PERIOD

Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick got their first taste of facing their former Ducks teammates, and they were both able to pick up points in a one-sided first period for their new club.

Henrique got the Oilers on the scoresheet first by finishing his own rebound off a shot on an odd-man rush that was set up by Leon Draisaitl and Mattias Ekholm at 16:13 of the opening period.

"It's kind of one you look forward to I guess, and nice to get one early in the game and kind of settle in and see those guys," Henrique said. "So that's big two points for us down the stretch. You've got to have them, and I thought we did a good job trying to jump on it early and take control of the game."

The forward's opening tally was his 22nd of the season, his fourth as an Oiler and only the second career goal he's scored against one of his former teams after he scored against the Ducks as a member of the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 17th, 2012.

"There's a lot of things I like about his game," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "He's part of our second-unit power play, which really hasn't had much time or opportunities. But we've used him on the penalty kill and he's been solid there. Half the games have been split between being our third-line centerman and second-line left winger, and right now he's just starting to find a little chemistry with Leon."

McDavid followed up Henrique over 10 minutes later by adding another incredible goal to his lexicon with over five minutes left in the first frame.

The captain took a pass from Ekholm and flew up the ice, coming into Anaheim's zone with speed and taking the wide route around Ducks forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx before roofing his 28th goal of the season top shelf and short side over John Gibson to make it 2-0 Oilers.

"You always know what's going on out there; you know who you're going up against most times," McDavid said of the play. "I definitely knew that was a forward and might be a little bit of an uncomfortable situation for him."

McDavid has now posted points in 22 of his last 23 games against the Ducks dating back to Jan. 25, 2015 and is currently riding a 13-game point streak as he continues to feed over his career against one of the Pacific Division's bottom teams.

"I thought we got off to a really good start," McDavid said. "Rico scores that big goal, a big play from Leo's line, and kind of just go from there. These games can be tricky, especially if you give them life early in the game, and I thought we did a good job of eliminating that and Picks was there for us whenever we turned one over."

Ekholm extended his personal point streak to four games with the primary assist on McDavid's magical goal, and the Swedish blueliner continued his torrent pace as one-half of the most in-form defensive pair in the NHL with Evan Bouchard when his slap shot that came 2:01 after McDavid's marker beat John Gibson through traffic for his eighth goal of the year.

"I try to play the same way every game, but I think a big part of it has been feeling really good lately," Ekholm said. "I feel like I've had some bumps and bruises to start the season and those have kind of faded away a little bit."

With a goal and an assist in the first period, Ekholm (4G, 8A) and Bouchard (1G, 14A) now have a combined 26 points (5G, 21A) over their last 10 games, making them the most dangerous defensive pairing in the League over that period.

SECOND PERIOD

Don't look now, but we have a tie game... in the NHL's overall scoring race.

McDavid faced double-digit deficits in the scoring race many for most of the season, but the captain equalled Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov with his 124th point of the season when he notched his second goal of the game on the power play.

McDavid worked an exchange of the puck with Draisaitl in the right circle and got it back from the German before firing his second of the afternoon blocker side on Gibson, making it 4-0 before the midway mark of the middle frame.

Before the period was over, Warren Foegele would make it a five-goal lead for the Oilers off a beautiful stretch pass from Ekholm for his third point of the afternoon.

Foegele found himself behind the last line of defence for the Ducks and put his ensuing effort five-hole for his 17th goal of the season, scoring against the team that he set a career-high for points in a game against back on Dec. 31, 2023 with five points (2G, 3A).

THIRD PERIOD

Zach Hyman's 52nd goal of the season will look out of place on his overall goal-scoring heat map after the majority of his fifty-plus tallies this season came from around the blue paint.

But not on Saturday afternoon.

With the fans at Rogers Place cheering their captain on as he searched for his hat-trick, McDavid elected to set his winger up for a one-timer in the left circle that Hyman deposited swiftly beyond Gibson to make it 6-0 with under 13 minutes remaining, taking sole possession of second place in League goal scoring behind only Toronto's Auston Matthews (59).

The assist was McDavid's 125th point of the campaign, officially moving him past Kucherov (albeit temporarily) for the outright NHL lead for points. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon ended up passing the Oilers captain soon after with two goals and two assists in his team's 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators.

Goaltender Calvin Pickard had a relatively quiet game with only 22 shots sent his way, and the Edmonton netminder had his second official shutout of the season snapped by Alex Killorn on a late power play.

PARTING WORDS

Coach Knoblauch on Brett Kulak leaving the game after playing only 49 seconds in the first period:

"Yeah, I saw him [post-game]. Obviously he'll get looked at again tonight and tomorrow, but he says he feels well, which is good news for us... He'll be with us on the road trip."

Coach Knoblauch on Cody Ceci, who was out on Saturday due to illness:

"I was texting him before the game. He's feeling better. I think it was best that he didn't play. We needed him, probably could have done it, but he was sick and we gave him that day of rest and we anticipate he'll be playing in St. Louis."