Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm all had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers won their third-straight game in convincing fashion, drilling the Utah Hockey Club 7-1 on Tuesday.
“The biggest thing that I liked was how we checked,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch when asked about the game. “And we did that by skating.”
Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Oilers (40-24-4) who moved three points up on the Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.
Sean Durzi replied for Utah (30-27-11) which has lost two of its last three games in the team’s pursuit of a Western Conference wild-card playoff spot.
Calvin Pickard made 29 saves to collect the win for the Oilers, while Jaxson Stauber recorded 24 saves in the loss for Utah after coming in to start the second period.
“You want to head into the end of the season playing your best hockey,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said after the game. “I think we are starting to get there.”
Takeaways
Utah HC: With usual backup Connor Ingram unavailable as he has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, Vejmelka made his 11th consecutive start for Utah, but looked like the workload might be beginning to take a bit of a toll as he allowed three goals on 14 first-period shots before being replaced to start the second by Stauber, who was playing in just his fifth game this season.
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Oilers: Despite their offensive explosion, Leon Draisaitl was kept off the scoresheet, ending his points streak at a career-high 18 games. The German-born Draisaitl is the fourth player in Oilers franchise history player with a point streak of at least 18 games, and ended up tied for the fourth longest streak in NHL history by a player born outside of North America.
Key moment
Edmonton went up by three goals with just four seconds left in the first period as Ekholm made a long pass out of the zone that was tipped over to McDavid in full flight by Evan Bouchard. The Oilers captain made a pretty highlight-reel deke before sifting home his 26th past Vejmelka.
McDavid extended his points streak to 12 games and according to NHL Public Relations became the first player in NHL history to have recorded three-point games against 32 different franchises.
Key stat
In sweeping the three-game seasonal series with Utah, the Oilers have now won 10 of their last 12 home games against Western Conference opponents. Their seven remaining home games — in addition to the seven road tilts they have left — are all against Western teams.
Up next
Utah Hockey Club: Hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
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