Hockey
McDavid extends point streak to 17 games with four points, but the Ducks stun the Oilers 5-4
Connor McDavid did everything again on Thursday night at Rogers Place — a goal, three assists, a point streak stretched to 17 games — and still ended up on the losing side. The Anaheim Ducks withstood a late Edmonton rally to win 5-4, a result that says as much about the visitors' nerve as it does about the best player in the world.
The hit, then the answer
Midway through the game, the night took a worrying turn for Edmonton. After a shot attempt, McDavid was hit by Ducks defenceman Drew Helleson and crashed hard into the post. The Oilers captain stayed down, got up slowly and skated off gingerly, and for a moment Rogers Place held its breath. He came back — and answered the only way he knows how. Late in the first period he set up Evan Bouchard, then scored short-handed early in the second, batting his own rebound out of mid-air for his 10th goal of the season. The four-point night took McDavid to 44 points — 10 goals and 34 assists — in 17 games, the best total in the league. He has a point in every Oilers game this season, and two or more in all but five.
Bouchard joins Bobby Orr in the record book
McDavid was not the only Oiler writing history. Bouchard finished with a goal and an assist, reaching 30 points in 17 games — tying Bobby Orr (1973-74 and 1969-70) for the second-fewest games a defenceman has ever needed for 30 points in a season. Leon Draisaitl also had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two assists. Together, the trio have made Edmonton just the third team in 50 years to own the league's first three players to 30 points in a season — and still, on Thursday, it was not enough.
Sennecke and the Ducks hold their nerve
Anaheim, though, refused to be a footnote. Beckett Sennecke scored twice and added an assist, Cutter Gauthier netted his ninth goal in four games, and the Ducks took a 4-2 lead into the third period. Edmonton pushed hard late, and Bouchard scored with 44 seconds left — a cross-crease feed from McDavid — to make it 5-4, but the equaliser never came. The Ducks (8-7-1) have taken a point in four of their past five games. For Edmonton, the defeat ended a five-game point streak (3-0-2).
A streak for the history books
McDavid is averaging 2.59 points per game, a pace the NHL has rarely seen. His 17-game run is already one of the great starts in league history; the record remains Gretzky's 51-game streak in 1983-84. The Oilers (11-3-3), first in the Pacific Division, host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. McDavid will be there, chasing game 18.