Connor McDavid had six assists as the Edmonton Oilers pulled away in the third period for an 8-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at Rogers Place.
“He was one of the few guys who was skating for a whole 60 minutes, and the plays that he made tonight were pretty phenomenal,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“If he’s not on top of his game, we’re probably not winning that one.”
The Oilers opened the scoring after an extended session of forechecking 8:48 into the game. Leon Draisaitl beat Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso with a long wrist shot for his 25th of the season. Cody Ceci picked up an assist for this 200th career point.
Husso, who was playing his first game since Dec. 18, left the game with a lower-body injury and was replaced by Alex Lyon.
Just 2:17 later, Ceci’s point shot banked in off a Detroit defender, giving the defenceman his first goal since Oct. 15, 2022.
“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.”
The Wings replied on a power-play one-timer by Alex DeBrincat.
The teams traded goals 57 seconds apart midway through the second.
Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard was left alone in front and zinged his 12th past Lyon.
Joe Veleno chipped in a power-play goal to pull Detroit back within one.
The Wings kept pressing and tied it up on a goal by Patrick Kane with 5:30 left in the second.
“We weren’t skating the first two periods,” Knoblauch said after the game. “We were just standing and watching. We had ill-advised pinching and forwards weren’t reloading.
“The amount of odd-man rushes we gave up was probably the whole month of January combined all in one period.”
Dylan Holloway restored the Oilers’ lead 44 seconds into the third, diving to whack in a rebound.
“I had to sell out for that one,” Holloway said. “I couldn’t risk it getting knocked away.”
“(Holloway’s) a bit like a bull in a china shop sometimes, but you’ve got to go to the net hard and he got rewarded there,” McDavid said after the game.
“That was a huge goal and it got us going.”
Less than four minutes later, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins cut into the middle and flicked his 13th to make it 5-3 Oilers.
Oilers winger Zach Hyman tallied his 32nd on a rebound.
Less than a minute later, McDavid sped down the right side, did a full spin, then sent a backhand pass in front to Evander Kane for a 7-3 lead.
“He made a great play … and I had a lot of speed and just tried to make a play,” McDavid said.
“I tried to cut inside and the d-man played it well. I bounced it back outside and threw it there and Kaner is a great goal-scorer — he’s always at the net.”
Wings forward David Perron scored a deflection goal late in the third. Then McDavid earned his sixth assist, putting a pass in front that went in off Nugent-Hopkins.
Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner earned the win with 34 saves.
The Oilers (31-17-1) will visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 4:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 6 p.m.