POST-GAME: McDavid finds mojo with nine points in two games

EDMONTON, AB – Just in case there was ever any doubt, the most prolific offensive talent in the National Hockey League still resides in Edmonton and his name is Connor McDavid.

The Oilers captain is back to his otherworldly point-producing form with one goal and eight assists in his last two games, leading the team to decisive 5-0 and 8-2 victories over the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks on the road and at home, respectively.

McDavid has 12 points on his current four-game streak and 15 over his last seven games to regain his rightful place among the NHL's scoring leaders, jumping up into 10th in points per game after Sunday's one-goal, four-assist performance.

It was his ninth career five-point game, passing Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin for the most among active players, and he also joined Washington's Nicklas Backstrom as the only active players to record back-to-back four-assist showings.

McDavid opened the season with points in five straight games, but an injury took him out of the lineup for a pair and he did not have his usual scoring touch upon his return with just two assists during a six-game stretch.

But both he and the Oilers as a whole seem to be back where they want to be, with the captain filling up the scoresheet once again and the team winning five of their last eight games.

"Confidence is obviously a big part of it," McDavid said of the recent resurgence. "I think our whole team is playing better and I think that's why you're seeing guys start to have success. It's not just a light switch that one guy or two guys can just turn on. It takes a whole group and I thought our group's been playing better of late and you're starting to see guys have a little bit of success."

"He's got a lot of points, obviously, in the last however many games, and it feels like he could have a lot more too," Oilers forward Zach Hyman said of his superstar teammate.

"You can't contain him for too long. I think he plays the game different. He's the best player in the world and he's able to generate so many chances, not just for himself, but for his linemates. You just keep going and eventually it's going to go in and it's gone in of late, so it's been great."

"He's been playing his butt off and doing everything he can since the start of the season," alternate captain Darnell Nurse added. "And then obviously the points have started to come the last few games. But with that said, he's been working at that same clip since we got in here before camp, so he's just being rewarded for it now."

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch's first game at the helm just happened to be the start of McDavid's stretch of 15 points in seven appearances. And while Knoblauch wasn't with the team during the captain's post-injury struggles, his familiarity with the generational talent goes all the way back to their time together with the OHL's Erie Otters from 2012 to 2015.

Knoblauch said he's not sure exactly what the turning point has been for McDavid, but he believes it's a combination of confidence and persistence.

"I don't know, I'm not sure what it was," he said. "Maybe just getting away, getting on the road, maybe getting some lucky bounces. It's amazing how much a player's confidence gets affected with just scoring a point, just getting on the scoresheet or maybe, I don't know, I'm not sure what turned it around. Obviously he's an elite athlete, an incredible player. He was going to figure it out. He was going to find his game."

And the timing couldn't be much better for the Oilers and their captain to be back in a groove as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights – the team that eliminated them from last year's playoffs – are next up on the docket at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

"It's a big game," McDavid said. "It's a measuring game for us to see where we're at against one of the league's best, if not the league's best, and something that we should be looking forward to."