Connor McDavid scored twice and added an assist as the Edmonton Oilers knocked off the Minnesota Wild 4-1 Saturday night at Rogers Place.
McDavid now has 18 goals in his last 19 games, and 33 on the season.
“Just looking to finish the season out strong as a team and individually as well,” McDavid said on his recent goal scoring tear.
“I think this is a growing period here for our group and it’s important to feel good about ourselves heading into the summer and coming into next year.”
The first period was scoreless, though the Wild had a distinct territorial advantage and outshot the Oilers 12-5.
Cam Talbot was stellar in goal for the Oilers, finishing the night with 32 saves.
“He was great, especially in the first period when they outshot us. He let us kind of get our legs under us and ease our way into the game,” McDavid added.
“I thought Cam played well from beginning to end. We needed him early, we were a little bit hesitant in the first period,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan.
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Talbot picked up his 25th win of the season.
“It feels really good, especially against a team like that, that is playing some really good hockey right now and playing extremely well offensively,” Talbot said. “To hold a group like that to one goal, it took the whole group tonight and we played a heck of a game all together.”
McDavid opened the scoring 9:11 into the second period. He hopped around Ryan Suter and cut to the net. His original shot was blocked, but he found a rebound and fired a shot past Devan Dubnyk.
McDavid added another 2:49 later, snapping a power play wrist shot past a screened Dubnyk.
“You can’t turn the puck over in the neutral zone like that when he’s on the ice, that’s pretty straight forward. It’s usually going to end up that way. We had three or four chances to clear the puck on that penalty kill, and it ends up off his stick and in the back of the net,” said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk on McDavid’s powerplay goal.
“That’s usually how it goes when you don’t clear the puck. Those are avoidable mistakes and unfortunately it was the difference.”
Charlie Coyle put the Wild on the board halfway through the third period. With five minutes left, Cam Talbot made a stretching blocker save on Jason Zucker to keep the Oilers ahead by one.
“It was just pure desperation trying to get across and take away any part of the net I can,” added Talbot. “It was a big kill there, and then we went down and buried a powerplay goal. Special teams were huge for us tonight.”
Leon Draisaitl sniped a power play goal with 3:35 left. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added an empty net goal with 2:33 left, his 300th career point.
Defenceman Ethan Bear earned an assist for the second straight game. McDavid leads the Oilers with 33 goals and 84 points.
The Oilers have won three in a row to improve to 30-34-4. They’ll play in Calgary on Tuesday.
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