GAME STORY: Oilers 7, Senators 1

EDMONTON, AB - Seven goals and six straight wins against the Senators this season as Leon Draisaitl led the way with a hat trick and five points in a 7-1 Oilers victory on Wednesday at Rogers Place.

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FIRST BLOOD

After giving up the opening goal in the opening minute on Monday, the Oilers got off to a hot start two nights later with four tallies in the first period, starting with a seeing-eye point shot from Darnell Nurse at the 3:52 mark. Draisaitl dropped a pass back to the defenceman and his slapper hit Austin Watson's stick, causing a change in trajectory and five-hole foolery on Matt Murray for his seventh of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Draisaitl took a page out of Connor McDavid's book in the first period by scoring an end-to-end highlight-reel goal on the power play to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead at the time. Mike Smith played the puck behind the net to Tyson Barrie who moved it up to Draisaitl nearby and the reigning MVP exploded through the neutral zone, navigated past defenceman Mike Reilly and beat Murray over the blocker with his forehand for his 12th goal of the season.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Murray surrendered seven goals on the night, but he did make the best save of the game as well when he flashed the leather to deny Draisaitl of yet another goal with the Oilers on the power play early in the middle frame. McDavid flipped a perfect feed through the crease and Draisaitl one-timed it, but Murray stretched across to snag the line drive for one of his 29 stops on the night.

TURNING POINT

The second Oilers goal was a tough one for Ottawa as they coughed the puck up to Devin Shore in the neutral zone and he burst in on a two-on-none rush with Jujhar Khaira, making a superb fake before setting up his linemate for the tally at 5:57 of the opening frame.

TOP PERFORMER

Draisaitl's five-point night brought him up to 42 on the season as he moved past Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks into second in the NHL scoring race behind McDavid, whose three points gave him 48 on the season. The hat trick was the fourth of Draisaitl's career and third during regular-season play, and he also finished with 18:52 TOI, six shots and a 60% success rate in the faceoff circle.

FACT CHECK

According to StatsCentre, Draisaitl and McDavid became the first teammates in nearly 30 years to each record 40 points in their team's first 28 games in back-to-back seasons. The last teammates to record 40 points in 28 games or less in back-to-back years were Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 campaigns.

NEXT UP

The Oilers and Senators will conclude their three-game series on Friday and Edmonton will head west immediately after that game for a road matchup against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. It's Battle of Alberta time again next week with games in Calgary on Monday and Wednesday.

PARTING WORDS

"It's our job as the leadership group and collectively as a team to find our way out of it and go in the right direction," Draisaitl said of the Oilers winning three in a row after dropping three straight to Toronto. "I thought our team did a great job of sticking with that in the Calgary game, and we're back to 3-0 in the last three, so huge props to our group."

"Connor and Leon are incredible players, world-class players," Barrie said of the team's leading scorers, as he also had a three-point game on Wednesday to give him three goals and 19 assists on the season. "I'm really grateful to be able to get out there with those two on a nightly basis."
"He's just such a strong player," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of Draisaitl. "He holds the puck, he uses his body well, forehand or backhand it doesn't seem to matter to him. In tight spots, he's got so much poise with the puck. He's just an elite player. You put the two of them together and it's a pretty good combination."