GAME RECAP: Oilers 9, Sharks 2

EDMONTON, AB – Connor McDavid reached a historic milestone with his 100th assist of the season as the Oilers blew the Sharks out of the water on Monday night with nine goals in a massive 9-2 victory at Rogers Place that concludes their regular-season home schedule.

McDavid scored 53 seconds into regulation during his return from a three-game injury absence, beginning the offensive onslaught for the Oilers before he picked up his historic helper on Zach Hyman's 54th goal of the season that made it 9-1 with less than five minutes remaining in the second period.

The Oilers captain becomes the fourth different player in NHL history to reach 100 assists in a single season behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr while also beating Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov to the century mark for helpers after the League's leading scorer was sat on 99 helpers.

• RELEASE: McDavid joins elite company with 100th assist

"It's probably the hardest one that he's accomplished," said long-time teammate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. "You can't really be surprised with the things he does every year, but it's an amazing accomplishment. You probably didn't think it was possible to happen in this day and age, but he keeps surprising you. Very proud of him."

Edmonton scored all nine of their goals over the first two periods, with nine different players picking up multiple points in the victory.

Dylan Holloway recorded the first three-point game of his career with a goal and two helpers, while Evan Bouchard became the first Oilers defenceman since Paul Coffey to reach 80 points in a single season with a goal and assist. Darnell Nurse served as facilitator with three assists on the night, and Warren Foegele scored twice to reach 19 goals on the season, leaving himself one goal shy of notching his first 20-goal campaign.

Forward Adam Henrique, playing on McDavid's line for the first time on Monday night, chipped in with a goal and two assists and Stuart Skinner had a relatively quiet night, making 19 saves to pick up his 36th win of the campaign.

"I thought everyone played a really good game," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "It's nice to see those guys get rewarded with some offence... I thought our team skated really well and played with a lot of speed, but we're happy that Connor hit that milestone. That's the biggest thing, but it's nice to see those depth guys get some offence too."

The Oilers hold a slight chance of winning the Pacific Division as they head out on the road for the final two games of the regular season with a back-to-back this Wednesday and Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche.

The next time Edmonton is on home ice, they'll be hosting Game 1 of their first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

FIRST PERIOD

It didn't take long for the Oilers – or McDavid – to find the scoresheet against the Sharks, but his historic 100th assist of the season would have to wait another period after the captain opened the scoring just 53 seconds into the first period for his 32nd goal off a fortunate bounce.

McDavid was making his return from a three-game absence with a lower-body injury and immediately crushed any qualms about his health with an immediate impact, taking a break-out feed from Nurse and burning up the ice and around defenceman Jack Thompson before looking back door with a pass meant for Hyman.

The captain got a lucky break when his attempted feed went off the left skate blade of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and beat goaltender Devin Cooley less than a minute into the game to make it 1-0 Oilers, kicking off a one-sided game for Edmonton against bottom-dwelling San Jose, who'd already secured last place in the NHL and the best odds of picking projected first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini at this summer's 2024 Draft in Vegas.

The Oilers would assemble themselves a four-goal lead through the opening 20 minutes after Henrique, Foegele and Holloway all got on the scoresheet before the first intermission arrived.

Henrique started building himself a strong offensive showing on Monday with a goal and an assist in the first period, netting his 24th goal of the season 4:01 into the frame on a rebound that came from Brett Kulak's quick point shot before setting up Holloway for the young forward's fifth goal of the year with 25 seconds left in the period – Holloway's second goal in three games since being called back up to Oil Country on Apr. 9 from the AHL's Bakersfield Condors.

Before they'd grown their lead to four ahead of the intermission, Foegele would get in on the action off a terrific defensive effort in the Oilers zone from Leon Draisaitl, who won a battle along the half-boards and pushed it up to the winger to start an odd-man rush that Foegele took himself and placed through Cooley's five-hole for his 18th of the year. The German would end the evening with two assists to extend his point streak against the Sharks to nine games, totalling five goals and 11 helpers.

SECOND PERIOD

And there it finally was, McDavid's long-awaited milestone had arrived – but not before an absolute flurry of pucks from the Oilers that found their way into the Sharks' net for an insurmountable Blue & Orange lead through 40 minutes.

If the Oilers thought their first-period effort was something to celebrate, we're not quite sure what to call their fantastic five-goal middle frame and 9-1 advantage after two periods that they built for themselves after conceding a soft goal to San Jose less than two minutes into the period.

Foegele responded over two-and-a-half minutes later for the Oilers by willing a puck over the line from the blue paint while on his chest to pick up his second goal of the evening and his 19th goal of the season, continuing a career year for the Markham, Ont. product with his 40th point.

With one more goal needed for Foegele to record his first-career 20-goal season, it was still to be determined if we'd have multiple milestones on Monday that would be hit with the Oilers up 5-1 with half a game still to be played. Foegele’s two goals in the game marked the fifth time he's recorded multiple goals this season, which is the second-most on the Oilers behind Zach Hyman with 10.

Bouchard reached an impressive 80 points on the season season just past the midway mark of the second period when he set up Corey Perry at the back door on an odd-man rush for Edmonton's sixth goal,

Perry returned the favour to Bouchard later in the period when he connected on a pass to the back door for the defenceman to bury for his 18th of the year after Cody Ceci scored on an almost identical sequence 32 seconds earlier, leading to netminder Devin Cooley getting a merciful pull from between the Sharks' pipes after conceding eight goals on 22 shots.

By reaching 80 points, Bouchard becomes the first Oilers defenceman in franchise history to reach the mark in a single season since current assistant coach Paul Coffey did it five straight times between 1981 and 1986.

Among all the amazing moments on Monday, the largest cheer from the Rogers Place faithful and the Oilers bench came with 4:25 left in the middle frame when McDavid inevitably reached the century mark for assists.

"It's exciting for us to be a part of too getting to see him on a day-to-day basis," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It's not just in a game – it's in practice dominating every skate and pushing us to get better and to work harder and practice. That translates to the game."

Nurse was playing the role of distributor all evening with three assists, with his third helper coming after he moved the puck up from the Oilers' zone to the far blueline to send McDavid and Hyman in on a two-on-one, but all eyes were on the captain.

McDavid picked up his 100th assist of the season in his return from a three-game injury absence with a back-post pass to Hyman, who finished off the play for his 54th goal of the season in the final five minutes of the middle frame to make it 9-1 for the Oilers before the second intermission.

"We've scored that type of goal a bunch this year, so it's fitting that was the way [he reached 100 assists]," Hyman said. "Just to be a part of it is pretty cool. Only three other guys have done it and those guys are special players, so it's pretty cool company."

As part of Hyman's career-high goal total, McDavid has now assisted on 35 of those tallies this season for the first-time 50-goalscorer.

"Zach and I have played lots together, and he's had such an incredible year and we've both benefited from playing with each other," McDavid said. "I guess it was fitting."

THIRD PERIOD

There could've been a bit of an emotional hangover from the first two periods for the Oilers after their offence was kept from reaching double digits in the final frame, but the result was not in question. 

Skinner had a quiet evening overall between the pipes for the Oilers with only 21 shots faced, but he still atoned for an earlier mistake on San Jose's first goal when he made a stand-up save on Collin Graf's tipped effort less than two minutes into the final frame. Even in an 8-1 game, those are the saves you have to make – especially when it comes to building confidence heading into the postseason.

Fabian Zetterlund added a consolation for the Sharks with four-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, but the Oilers were able to see out the sizeable 9-2 victory in their concluding home game of the regular season at Rogers Place.

We'll see you in the postseason, Oil Country.