Evan Bouchard broke a deadlock and Connor McDavid collected two more assists in his quest to join elite company as the visiting Edmonton Oilers claimed a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames in a hard-fought Battle of Alberta clash Saturday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored once in a three-point game, while Leon Draisaitl and Connor Brown also scored for the Oilers (47-24-5, 99 points), who are 5-1-1 in their last seven. Goaltender Calvin Pickard made 33 saves.
With his helpers, McDavid has 99 assists, pulling him that much closer to becoming only the fourth player in NHL history to collect 100 in a season. McDavid would join Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky (who did it 11 times) and Mario Lemieux.
Edmonton is three points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the top spot in the Pacific Division and hold one game in hand. Edmonton also has a six-point edge on the third-place Los Angeles Kings.
Yegor Sharangovich scored once and added an assist while Nazem Kadri also scored for the Flames (34-37-5, 73 points). Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.
Calgary has lost three straight, eight of nine and 11 of 14 outings since the trade deadline.
With the score tied and overtime a possibility, Bouchard was set up for a one-timer and unloaded a top-shelf point shot for his 17th of the season with 9:24 left in the third period.
Nugent-Hopkins iced the game with an empty-netter.
Draisaitl’s power-play goal cracked the scoreless deadlock with 15.5 seconds remaining in the opening frame, ripping a one-timer from the right faceoff dot for his 40th goal of the season. Draisaitl has reached that standard five times in his career.
Brown doubled the lead 3:13 into the second period. Taking advantage of a Calgary turnover in the Edmonton zone, a rush up ice ended with Brown netting his fourth of the season.
To their credit, the Flames pulled even with a pair of power-play goals. Sharangovich put the hosts on the board 44 seconds later by blasting a one-timer from the left faceoff dot to notch his first 30-goal campaign.
Kadri tied the clash with another man-advantage marker 7:13 into the third period, coming when he deflected Sharangovich’s shot for his 25th of the season.
–Field Level Media
