Connor McDavid took the NHL’s early scoring lead with his second-straight three-point night to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.
After scoring his third goal of the season on a first-period breakaway, the 19-year-old helped set-up the tying goal in the second and the go-ahead goal early in the third as Edmonton completed a sweep of the home-and-home series.
READ MORE: McDavid’s 3 points leads Edmonton Oilers to season opener win over Calgary Flames
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, including an empty netter, for Edmonton (2-0-0), while Jordan Eberle and Mark Letestu also scored.
Sean Monahan and Michael Frolik replied for Calgary (0-2-0), which falls to 0-5-1 in its last six home openers. The Flames immediately fly to Vancouver to play in the Canucks’ home opener on Saturday.
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Tied 2-2, Monahan’s penalty 42 seconds into the third period put the Oilers on the power play for the fourth time with them converting for a second time.
McDavid began the tic-tac-toe sequence that went to Milan Lucic then across the crease to Draisaitl.
Five minutes later, Dennis Wideman’s turnover led to a short-handed breakaway for Letestu, who beat Brian Elliott to make it 4-2.
Jokipakka wired a shot top corner on Cam Talbot off a feed from Kris Versteeg to get Calgary back within one with 7:44 to go but they couldn’t complete the comeback.
Trailing 2-1 after a first period where they were outshot 24-12, Edmonton tied it 5:25 on the man advantage when Eberle knocked in a loose puck.
Calgary got on the scoreboard early with Monahan putting in a second rebound after Deryk Engelland hit a goal post and Johnny Gaudreau was stopped.
McDavid tied it on his second breakaway of the period when he tore away from Mark Giordano and zipped a shot over the shoulder of Brian Elliott.
Frolik restored the lead when his shot from the sideboards slipped past Talbot, who didn’t appear to see it.
Elliott had 24 saves. The veteran acquired in the off-season to be the Flames No. 1 goalie was beaten six times on 27 shots on Wednesday.
Talbot had 32 saves as the Oilers improved to 2-0. He had been peppered for 42 shots in Edmonton’s 7-4 win at home.
Notes: The 24 shots in the first period were one off the Flames franchise record for shots in a period, done twice before (1988, 2005)… Calgary’s only line-up change came on defence, inserting Jokipakka for Nicklas Grossmann… Edmonton made two changes with Eric Gryba replacing Brandon Davidson on the blue-line and Anton Lander coming in for rookie Anton Slepyshev up front… The final two games in the season series are both in January.
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