Connor McDavid becomes 4th in NHL history with 100 assists as the Oilers rout the Sharks 9-2

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Warren Foegele scored twice and Adam Henrique and Dylan Holloway each had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks 9-2 Monday night.

Connor McDavid had a goal and added his 100th assist of the season, becoming just the fourth player in NHL history to hit the milestone behind Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.

“It means a lot. Those three are obviously three of the greatest players to ever play. To share a little something with them, it means a lot to me,” McDavid said. “It has been a different type of year, but everybody stuck with it, and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot heading into when it matters most.”

Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said McDavid always seems to be able to set a higher bar.

“It is probably the hardest one that he has accomplished,” he said. “You can’t really be surprised with the things he does every year. It is an amazing accomplishment. You probably didn’t think it was possible for it to happen in this day and age, but he keeps surprising you. I am very proud of him.”

Corey Perry, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard and Zach Hyman all scored to help the Oilers snap a two-game losing streak. Edmonton has gone 11-1-2 in its last 14 home games. Stuart Skinner finished with 19 saves.

Danil Gushkin and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks, who have lost four of their last five. Devin Cooley was pulled with 6:11 left in the second period after giving up eight goals on 22 shots. Georgi Romanov came on and stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in his NHL debut.

“You throw away the tape,” Sharks coach David Quinn said when asked what his squad should do after a game like that. “We never looked like we really thought we had a chance, is kind of what it felt like. We were slow, very slow in what we were doing and we were losing a lot of battles. There was a lot of hesitation in our game.”

McDavid made an instant impact in his return from a three-game absence due to a lower-body injury, scoring his 32nd just 53 seconds into the opening period on the game’s first shot as he banked a passing attempt off defender Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past Cooley.

Edmonton made it 2-0 at 4:01 as the rebound from Brett Kulak’s shot came out front to Henrique and he netted his 24th of the season and sixth with the Oilers.

Foegele scored on a 2-on-1 with 9:20 left in the first, and Holloway redirected a pass from Henrique through Cooley’s legs for his fifth with 25 seconds to go.

The Sharks got on the board at 1:58 of the second as Gushkin snuck a backhand shot between Skinner and the post for his first of the season and second goal in five career NHL appearances.

Foegele got his second of the night and career-high 19th less than three minutes later with a diving lunge to poke in a loose puck that was lying in the crease to make it 5-1.

Bouchard made a perfect pass to Perry at the side of the net to give the veteran forward his 12th at 10:11. With the assist, Bouchard became just the second defenseman in Edmonton franchise history to hit the 80-point mark.

Edmonton made it 7-1 with 6:42 left in the second period as Henrique passed it ahead to a hard-driving Ceci and he deflected in his fifth.

Bouchard made it a seven-goal lead on a 2-on-1 just 31 seconds later for his 18th. That chased Cooley and brought on Romanov.

McDavid then got his milestone assist with 4:25 to play in the second as he sent a pass to Hyman at the side of the net for an easy tap-in for his 54th of the season.

Edmonton seemed to back off somewhat for the third Zetterlund swatted in his 23rd during a mad scramble in front with 4:25 to play.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Visit the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

Oilers: Visit the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL