GAME STORY: Oilers 6, Senators 2

EDMONTON, AB - How sweep it is.
The Oilers won all three of their games against the Ottawa Senators this week to improve to 18-11-0 on the season, concluding with a 6-2 decision on Friday night that saw Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Tyson Barrie and Tyler Ennis each produce multi-point performances.

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FIRST BLOOD

Wayne Gretzky's motto was "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" and McDavid put that philosophy into play just 10 seconds after the opening faceoff as he skated hard into the attacking zone and threw the puck on net from the corner, just ahead of the extended goal line. The shot attempt rolled up Joey Daccord's pad before sneaking between his arm and his torso for the Oilers captain's team-leading 17th tally of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Both the setup and the snipe were sublime as the Oilers took a 2-1 lead at 13:45 of the first period. McDavid stole an Ottawa clearing attempt, sucked Brady Tkachuk to him along the wall and slid a pass through the Senators forward's legs to Barrie at the point. The defenceman skated into the high slot and unleashed a rocket wrist shot into the top corner over Daccord's blocker for his fourth goal and 23rd point of the season.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Late in the second period, not long after Darnell Nurse re-established Edmonton's lead with the 3-2 marker, Senators forward Nick Paul was sprung in alone on Mike Smith on a partial breakaway, deking to his backhand and getting denied by the outstretched pad of the veteran Oilers puck-stopper. Smith ended up making 23 saves on the night to improve to 9-2-0 on the season with a 2.16 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

TURNING POINT

Tkachuk's power-play goal midway through the second period pulled Ottawa even for the second time and it appeared as though this could be the night they had a chance to snap their losing streak against Edmonton. However, Nurse's eighth of the season at the 13:55 mark put the home team back up for good as the Senators were unable to tie the game for a third time. Patrick Russell made nice play along the wall to get the puck to the blueliner and Nurse beat Daccord with a perfectly-placed shot.

TOP PERFORMER

After a tough-luck bounce off his stick resulted in Thomas Chabot's opening tally for Ottawa, Barrie pulled a Lloyd Christmas and totally redeemed himself with a beautiful goal and an assist on Draisaitl's power-play marker for a two-point night. He also played 22:15, had three shots and his 24 points put him just one back of the Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman for the scoring lead among NHL blueliners.

FACT CHECK

According to StatsCentre, as a result of his assist on Barrie's goal in the opening frame, McDavid became the first player to reach the 50-point mark before his team's 30th game in back-to-back seasons since Pat Lafontaine of the Buffalo Sabres and Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins both did achieved the feat in 1991-92 and 1992-93. Also, per NHL PR, only five different players over the past 25 years have reached the 50-point mark in less games than McDavid's 29, with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby as the only active player, doing so in 28 games in 2006-07.
The other half of Edmonton's dynamic duo was rewriting the record book on Friday as well as Draisaitl's power-play goal with 70 seconds left in the middle frame was his second point of the night and 17th of the campaign against Ottawa, setting a new NHL record for the most points by an opponent in a single season versus the squad from the Canadian capital.

NEXT UP

The longest homestand of the Oilers season is complete and the team will now fly to Vancouver tonight ahead of a Hockey Night in Canada matchup with the Canucks on Saturday, followed by back-to-back Battle of Alberta games in Calgary on Monday and Wednesday.

PARTING WORDS

"A lot was made last week with what happened with Toronto and we found a way to get those points back, so it's big," McDavid said of winning four in a row after dropping three straight to the Maple Leafs. "It doesn't matter who you're playing, it's not easy to beat them three times, so credit to our group."
"Everybody was disappointed after those three games against Toronto," said Gaetan Haas, who scored his second goal of the season to conclude Edmonton's scoring on Friday. "That was a hard series for us, but we came back after that and now we're ready for every game."
"When you put McDavid and Draisaitl together, you've got to have some balance throughout your lineup," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of the Oilers getting depth goals from Haas and Ennis. "It's good to see them get on the board. Those are things that, as a team, we have to make sure are in place as we move forward here with everybody chipping in and everybody feeling like they're a part of it, whether they're on the scoreboard or not."