Connor McDavid celebrated his 26th birthday with two goals and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers crushed the San Jose Sharks 7-1 Friday night.
“We certainly need to keep building on our game and two good ones in a row — obviously we keep talking about consistency, so that’s a good sign,” McDavid said. “But the test is tomorrow night, playing against a good Vegas team and trying to make up some ground as well, so a big one.”
The Oilers took the lead on a power play by McDavid with 9:01 left in the first. Late in the frame, Klim Kostin earned his eighth of the season when Zach Hyman’s pass banked in off his skate. Vincent Desharnais had the second assist for his first NHL point.
The Oilers kept coming in the second. McDavid tapped in a power play pass from Leon Draisaitl to make it 3-0. Mattias Janmark was denied on a shorthanded breakaway but kept the play alive and fed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for his 21st. Draisaitl snapped in his 24th to make it 5-0 Oilers after two.
Jack Campbell made a stretching glove save early in the third to take a sure goal away from Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Jesse Puljujarvi and Ryan McLeod scored 32 seconds apart to make it 7-0. Oskar Lindblom spoiled Campbell’s shutout bid with a deflection goal with 4:58 left.
“Just trying to keep building on it,” Campbell said when asked about his improved play lately. “Definitely more of what I expect out of myself and the team’s playing great in front of me, so we’re just trying to keep it going together.”
Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins both had a goal and two assists. Campbell finished with 25 stops.
“We came in, we expected to get two points tonight,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. “We were going to work to get those two points, but we expected it. That’s the attitude that we carry into every game and that’s how you continue to put points on the board and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
The Oilers, 23-18-3, will visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 6:30 p.m., game at 8 p.m.).
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