GAME RECAP: Oilers 8, Red Wings 4

EDMONTON, AB – Connor McDavid contributed a career-high six assists on Tuesday night, including the 600th of his career, as the Edmonton Oilers scored five goals in the third period to secure two points against the Red Wings with an 8-4 victory at Rogers Place.

"I think his stat sheet says it all – six assists, plus six, no power play time and he was skating," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "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 our game, we're probably not winning that one."

After Detroit scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the middle frame to make it 3-3 entering the intermission, Edmonton came out in the third period with vigour, scoring their first of five goals in the final frame 44 seconds into the period through Dylan Holloway's third goal of the year.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice in the final 20 minutes to go along with goals from Evander Kane and Zach Hyman, while McDavid contributed four of his six assists in the third period to help grow his home 19-game point streak to 46 points (12G, 34A).

Evan Bouchard recorded a goal and two assists, including his 100th career helper, and Stuart Skinner stopped 34 of 38 shots to stave off the high-flying Red Wings who'd won 10 of their last 14 games and scored two goals in 21 straight contests.

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

FIRST PERIOD

The direction of play favoured Detroit early until Edmonton began to take over, leading to Leon Draisaitl delivering the opening goal at the end of back-to-back dominating shifts from the top six.

The German took a rimmed pass along the half-boards and protected the puck along the top of Detroit's zone before wandering into the slot and letting go of a wrist shot that beat Ville Husso short side through a screen set by Corey Perry.

The Red Wings' netminder was making his first start since Dec. 18, but would be replaced by Alex Lyon following the play due to the lower-body injury that had kept him out for nearly two months. 

Draisaitl's 25th goal of the season was assisted by Cody Ceci for his 200th career NHL point, making it 14 assists and no goals for the 30-year-old through 49 games this campaign – the second-most in the League behind LA Kings defenceman Jordan Spence (16).

Ceci's goalless run this season was also part of a 127-game streak without scoring dating back to Oct. 30, 2022 until – almost right on cue – the blueliner doubled Edmonton's lead on the first shot that Lyon faced.

The defenceman put a harmless wrist shot on goal that redirected off the skate of Detroit defenceman Moritz Seider and through Lyon's five-hole just 2:17 after Draisaitl made it 1-0. Darnell Nurse recorded the primary assist with a lateral blueline pass, making it two helpers for him in the first period to help lift Edmonton to a two-goal lead.

"It kind of felt like my first one again it's been so long, but it's nice whenever you can help out," Ceci said. "It's not a huge part of my game, but whenever I can chip in offensively, it's nice for the team."

"He's here to be a solid D-man and he's done that ever since he's been here," McDavid said. "He and Nursey make a great pair and pitch in with a goal every now and then. It's a great thing. Like I said, that's not what he's here for, but we're definitely happy for him."

SECOND PERIOD

For how well the Oilers might've been feeling through the midway mark of the hockey game, all the positivity they'd built themselves over the previous 30 minutes was undone by the visitors in the middle frame's second half.

Evan Bouchard tallied his 12th goal of the season at 9:43 of the second period when he took Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' pass between the hashmarks and snapped his shot over the right shoulder of Lyon, stretching Edmonton's lead to 3-1 and providing the Oilers their second two-goal lead of the contest.

The blueliner's goal would be the last bright spot of the period for the Blue & Orange before the Red Wings worked their way back into the game by capitalizing on a lapse in defending from the hosts.

The Red Wings got a scrappy goal on the power play through Joe Veleno, who bundled a shot off a goalmouth scramble over Stuart Skinner for Detroit's second goal with the man advantage and to make it a 2-1 score with over eight minutes left before the second intermission.

No active NHL player has more points against the Oilers than 'Showtime" Patrick Kane, and after a failed breakout from the Oilers extended a shift for their defenders, the future Hall of Famer was able to put away Lucas Raymond's backhand pass for his 71st point against Edmonton, making it 3-3 heading into the third period.

"I think we've done a great job of playing solid defensive hockey for a large stretch here. I thought it got away on us big time tonight," McDavid said.

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers – led by their enigmatic captain Connor McDavid – weren't about to sit on that second-period performance for long.

When Dylan Holloway went sliding through the danger zone early in the final frame to put away a loose puck on an incredible play, it started a five-goal third period for the Oilers to confidently dispel Detroit's comeback efforts in the third period and take the two points.

"We didn't like our second period," McDavid said. "I thought the first period, we did a lot of good things and the second period was just not what we wanted to do.

"We gave up numerous chances, numerous odd-man rushes, the forwards weren't doing a good job coming back and D-men pinched at strange times. I thought Stu bailed us out big time in the second period and we were fortunate to be tied.

"I thought we did a good job of just grabbing it, turning our work rate up, simplifying and a lot of the cliche stuff. But stuff that works."

Connor McDavid notched a secondary helper on the acrobatic play from the young winger, who took out his legs as he went sliding into the corner after the play.

"That was a little scary, but I saw him coming last second," McDavid said. "Holloway's a little bit like a bull in a china shop sometimes, but you've got to go to the net hard and he got rewarded there. That was a huge goal for our group and got us going."

McDavid and Bouchard reached milestones on the same scoring play when they contributed their 600th and 100th career assists, respectively, when Nugent-Hopkins notched his first of two tallies on the night and Edmonton's second in the opening 3:37 of the third period – handing the hosts their third two-goal lead of the game that this time, they wouldn't relinquish.

"It started all right, and in the second we were kind of playing a bit sloppy. A lot of flybys and everything,' Holloway said. "We decided to tighten up during the third, and a great performance by David got us going. So it was a great way to finish the game."

Hyman then pushed home his 32nd goal of the season with 7:05 left in regulation, but the Oilers & McDavid weren't done there before scoring two more goals before the final buzzer sounded.

McDavid notched two more helpers on goals from Evander Kane and Nugent-Hopkins, with the former coming off a spectacular spin-o-rama pass that set up Kane at the back post after the captain left Seider in his wake with the incredible showing of evasion against the Detroit defender.

"[Kane] made a great quick-up and I had a lot of speed and just tried to make a play," he said. "I tried to cut inside and the D-man played it well and bounced it back outside and threw it there. Kaner is a great goal-scorer. He's always at the net."

Former Oilers forward David Perron added consolation with a nifty deflection, but Nugent-Hopkins answered back 2:39 later, registering his second goal of the game to secure a final 8-4 result in favour of the Blue & Orange.