McDavid’s 4-point game leads Oilers to 8-2 rout of Coyotes
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice and had an assist as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Arizona Coyotes 8-2 on Wednesday night.
The rout came two days after Edmonton allowed 50 shots in a 3-2 loss to the injury-riddled Washington Capitals.
“We wanted to have a good rebound off last game, that was kind of the mindset coming in,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Everybody was involved, everybody was involved offensively. I thought we were pretty solid defensively for the most part and when we weren’t (goalie Stuart Skinner) was there to back us up.”
Derek Ryan, Leon Draisaitl, Bret Kulak and Klim Kostin also scored for the Oilers, who have won five of their last seven games.
“It was important for us to come out and have a full 60, especially that third period (where) we were up a little bit,” Ryan said. “We played a mature, professional period where we didn’t let our feet off the gas. We stepped on it and kept playing.”
Jack McBain and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Coyotes, who finished off a 14-game road trip with their sixth consecutive loss.
“We didn’t fight like we usually fight,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “Right from the beginning there was that softness, where we had three grade-A chances and missed the net all three times. We knew we had a tough opponent and we needed to be much better.
“Against professionals, a night like (tonight) will happen. We just have to make sure it doesn’t happen too often.”
The Oilers opened the scoring with a power-play goal 4:37 into the first period as Nugent-Hopkins sent a wrist shot through a screen that beat Coyotes netminder Connor Ingram.
Edmonton added to its lead with 3:19 minutes remaining in the first as Ryan scored on a backhand shot.
The power play clicked for the Oilers 8:14 into the second period as McDavid sent it through to Draisaitl and he scored from a tight angle for his 18th goal of the season.
McDavid recorded his 50th point in just the 27th game of the season, the fastest Oiler to hit that mark since Wayne Gretzky in 1987-‘88.
Arizona got on the board with 6:17 left in the second period. McBain made a nice move in tight and scored past an outstretched Stuart Skinner in the Oilers net.
Edmonton got that goal back just 23 seconds later, as Kailer Yamamoto stole a puck at the Arizona blue line and sent Nugent-Hopkins in alone for his second of the game and 13th of the season.
The Oilers went up 5-1 with 1:21 to play in the second as Kulak blistered a shot high to the glove side that went off the bar and in.
The Oilers kept the pressure on in the third as Ryan stripped a puck that went to Kostin in front and he scored his second goal of the season past Ingram at 3:19.
McDavid extended his goal streak to six games a couple minutes later, taking a pass from Draisaitl behind the net before scoring on the wraparound.
The Oilers captain made it a four-point game with seven minutes left in the third, taking a feed from Hyman and scoring on a one-timer for his 24th goal of the season.
Arizona scored with just over five minutes to play as Gostisbehere tipped in a shot by Christian Fischer.
ROAD TRIP
The Coyotes’ 14-game road trip started on Nov. 5, lasted 33 days, and tied an NHL record for the longest in history with the Vancouver Canucks. Arizona started the trip with three wins before going 1-7-3 after that.
UP NEXT
Arizona: Host Boston Bruins on Friday.
Edmonton: Host Minnesota on Friday.
___
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://www.twitter.com/AP_NHL
