Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists, while Leon Draisaitl added two goals and one assist as the Edmonton Oilers’ dynamic duo on Wednesday night continued their sizzling start to the season in a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was McDavid’s third career five-point game. Mikko Koskinen made 49 saves for Edmonton (6-1-0) in his third win of the season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ethan Bear and former Flyer Brandon Manning each scored their first goal of the season.
Photo: AP / The Canadian Press
Jakub Voracek scored twice for Philadelphia (2-2-1) and assisted on Oskar Lindblom’s goal.
It was a tough night for Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who allowed four goals on 14 shots. He was pulled in the second period after Nugent-Hopkins’ power-play goal and replaced by Brian Elliott.
The loss extended Philadelphia’s skid to three games and marked the end of a road trip that included three games in five days.
Edmonton got off to a quick start as Draisaitl scored his fifth of the season 1 minutes, 13 seconds in, beating Hart with a hard snap-shot over the blocker.
The Flyers tied it with the man advantage when Voracek buried the puck off a big rebound from Claude Giroux’s shot.
However, the Oilers responded just more than seven minutes later, with Bear jumping into the rush and taking a feed from James Neal, beating Hart with a wrist shot to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead.
The Flyers pressed hard for an equalizer in the second period, but Koskinen came up with a plethora of big saves. His two biggest stops came on Sean Couturier’s one-timer from the slot and a stick save against a wide-open Shayne Gostisbehere in front.
The goalie’s strong play sparked the Oilers in the second. After being dominated during the first half of the period, Edmonton broke loose with three goals in less than four minutes to take complete control.
McDavid outmuscled Flyers defenseman Justin Braun to make it 3-1 at 12 minutes, 34 seconds, then Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl added power-play goals 1 minute, 54 seconds apart to give Edmonton a 5-1 cushion late in the period.
McDavid added his fifth point of the game in the third with a nice drop pass to Manning, who fired a one-timer past Elliott.
Lindblom tipped in a drive from Voracek for his third goal of the season with 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining. Voracek added his second power-play goal of the game with 2 minutes, 18 seconds to go.
Edmonton’s special teams have been a big key to their strong start. The Oilers were two for two with the man advantage and are 10 for 22 in seven games.
In other results, it was:
‧ Penguins 3, Avalanche 2
‧ Sharks 5, Hurricanes
‧ Ducks 5, Sabres
‧ Capitals 4, Maple Leafs
‧ Blue Jackets 3, Stars 2
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